SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell and California Labor and Workforce Development Agency Secretary Victoria Bradshaw will hold joint news conferences in Stockton and Fresno Thursday to announce an outreach effort aimed at California's migrant education community regarding heat illness prevention.

"We are here today as part of a joint effort to raise awareness in the migrant farmworker community about the dangers of heat illness and the steps that can be taken to prevent it," O'Connell said. "The California Department of Education is dedicated to sharing information with migrant families through our migrant education program, parent advisory councils, and summer school programs. No job is worth ill health or worse, a life. It is important workers are aware of the danger signs so they know when to seek relief."

"California's ground-breaking heat illness prevention regulations have helped reduce the number of heat illnesses since 2005," Bradshaw said. "This collaboration will put potentially life-saving information into the hands of migrant students and their parents to help keep them safe in the fields."

O'Connell and Bradshaw will be joined by migrant education administrators and teachers, local school officials, workers' and growers' representatives at the two events.

Under the partnership, the labor agency's Department of Industrial Relations' Division of Occupational Safety and Health, also known as Cal/OSHA, will work with migrant education teachers and administrators throughout the state to educate students and their families about heat stress and their rights.

Heat-illness prevention materials in multiple languages will be distributed widely within the migrant education community, and various presentations by Cal/OSHA's consultation staff will be made throughout the 23 regions of the state's migrant education program. Cal/OSHA consultants will also make presentations at the March 2009 migrant education state parent conference.

For more information on heat illness prevention and training materials, visit the Cal/OSHA Web site at DOSH - Heat related illness prevention and information [http://www.dir.ca.gov/heatillness] (Outside Source). Employees with work-related questions or complaints may call the California Workers' Information Hotline at 866-924-9757.