A farm worker came to Broward County from Mexico with his work visa on New Year’s Eve. The 28-year-old was dead in a ditch by sundown on New Year’s Day, killed on the job by Florida’s oppressive heat.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration wants to fine his employer, Sebring farm labor contractor Rafael Barajas, $15,625, for not providing proper protection.

Online OSHA records don’t indicate whether Barajas will contest the citation, request an informal meeting with the area director or just pay the fine. A man answering a number listed for Barajas claimed the Herald reporter had the wrong number. Phone calls to other numbers associated with Barajas were not answered.

“The first day of 2023 was this young worker’s last because his employer failed to take simple steps to protect him from heat exposure, a known and dangerous hazard,” said OSHA Area Office Director Condell Eastmond in a statement included with the proposed fine announcement. “Had Rafael Barajas made sure workers were given time to get used to working in high temperatures and provided them with water, shade and rest the worker might not have lost his life.”

The citation says Barajas had supplied workers for tasks at 12210 Loxahatchee Road in unincorporated Broward County, the address for C.W. Hendrix Farms. On Jan. 1, temperatures ranged from 78 to 88 degrees with the heat index peaking at 89 degrees.

After five hours of pulling weeds and putting wooden stakes in the ground to support bell peppers, OSHA said, “the employee was observed exhibiting symptoms of heat exhaustion such as fatigue, weakness, and disorientation.” OSHA did not identify the employee.

OSHA said he was “struggling to keep pace with more experienced farmworkers. The employee complained of fatigue and leg pain as the area’s heat index neared 90 degrees. Sometime later, coworkers found the employee unresponsive in a shallow drainage ditch.”

Barajas was cited for providing a dangerous workplace because, “employees were exposed to excessive heat, elevated temperature working conditions, direct sun radiation and thermal stress.

The history of Rafael Barajas, farm labor contractor
State records say Barajas has run Central Florida Harvesting, Central State Staffing and Premier Labor & Business Solutions out of Sebring. OSHA’s Citation and Notification of Penalty says Barajas’ current business is self-titled and run out of 6033 Strafford Oaks Dr., a three-bedroom, 2003-built Country Club of Sebring house that Highland County’s online property records say he bought for $390,000 in 2021.

Online OSHA records say an employee of Barajas suffered nine fractured ribs, hemmorhaging in both eyes and a leg muscle contusion. While the worker was repairing a transmission, “The jack car lift slipped, and the vehicle fell and crushed the worker.”

Barajas was cited for the jack’s rated load not being “legibly and permanently marked in a prominent location...by casting, stamping or other suitable means.” An informal settlement reduced a $9,324 fine to the $5,594 Barajas paid.

From September 2016 through 2017, Barajas was barred from the H-2A Temporary Labor Certification program for not paying his certification fee.

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