Farmworkers in California take a break. Washington plans to adopt an emergency rule requiring employers to provide shade and water.

Washington farmworkers must have 10-minute paid rest breaks every two hours if the temperature reaches 89 degrees or higher under an emergency rule the state Department of Labor and Industries plans to adopt.

The rule will be in effect between June 1 and Sept. 29 and apply to workers who are outside at least 15 minutes in an hour. The trigger for outdoor workers wearing outer clothing, such as coveralls or jackets, will be 77 degrees.

The rule will carry over some emergency rules from last summer’s heat-exposure rule, but also will introduce new requirements, including the mandatory paid breaks.

New workers will also have to be closely watched for 14 days while they become acclimated to the heat. All workers will have to be observed for signs of heat-related illnesses, by sight, voice, text or a “mandatory buddy system.”

Employers will have to provide a shady place to sit and supply “suitably cool” water or sports drinks. Even if workers bring their own water, employers will have to bring water, too.

“You can’t rely on employees bringing their own,” said L&I health and safety specialist Bradley Farrar.

Because it’s an emergency rule, L&I did not have to assess the cost to businesses. A permanent rule requires a financial analysis to lessen the impact on small businesses.

L&I announced nine months ago it would write a permanent rule.

“We wanted to have permanent rule-making, and we did not get that far, so we need to have an emergency rule so that we have protections in place for employees,” said Teri Neely, technical services program manager of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

L&I rolled out a draft of the emergency rule Wednesday at an online forum. Department officials said they will take comments until May 15 and then finalize the rule.

Washington Farm Bureau director of government relations Tom Davis criticized the department’s timing and failure to do a cost analysis required of a permanent rule.

“How can they justify an emergency? It gets hot every summer,” he said.

“A lot of farms already have done their safety and heat training,” Davis said. “Our concern is that this could be used as a ‘gotcha’ for farms, and that they come out and find all kinds of violations.”

L&I officials fielded questions Wednesday from a range of employers. The department was unable to answer some questions.

Since employers will be required to train workers to avoid heat exposure, they wanted to know when L&I will hand out training materials.

“Our education and outreach team is currently diligently working on updating all of our training materials and hopefully we will get this out soon,” Farrar said.

L&I officials couldn’t say whether old employees had to undergo the 14-day acclimation period when temperatures reached 89 degrees.

It was also unclear how the acclimation period would apply if temperatures dropped below 89 degrees. It is an “interesting scenario that we may not have walked through,” Farrar said. “I’d say that observation should continue.”

Can a driver after loading or unloading in the heat take the 10-minute mandatory break while driving in an air-conditioned vehicle? Or will the driver have to stay in place while the motor and air conditioner run for 10 minutes?

“I’ll have to look at that scenario a little more closely,” Farrar said.

The rule will limit worker choices. What if a worker wanted to rest in a vehicle with the windows down but without the air conditioner running?

“A vehicle running with air conditioning would meet the requirements of shade. However, a vehicle without air conditioning would not,” Farrar said.

Washington law already requires employers to respond to workers showing signs of heat stress.

The Building Industry Association of Washington said more rules “only add complexity for Washington builders with little or no added protection for workers.”

“We’re also concerned they’re proposing an emergency rule when they started the permanent rule-making process nearly a year ago and had plenty of time to adopt rules under the proper process,” the BIAW said in statement.