Heat-stress rules approved

California's workplace-safety board today approved the heat-stress rules that a state agency proposed in July.

The approval served mostly to firm-up existing rules, something farm groups have said is necessary in the effort to educate employers. Farm employers say they're just now conquering the logistics of training crews and monitoring workers, and they fear liability.

An ongoing criminal lawsuit in San Joaquin County marks the first known instance that an employer has been tried for the heat-related death of an employee.