What is acceptable access and location when referring to shade?

Shade must be easy for employees to reach and its location must not deter or discourage access or use. Workers should not have to encounter any obstacles or hazardous or unreasonably unpleasant conditions to reach the shade or while resting in it. For example, employees should not have to cross traffic or waterways to reach the shade nor should it be located next to portable toilet facilities or where employees would sit on wet or muddy ground or come in contact with branches, brush, and thorns.

The shaded area must let employees assume a comfortable posture and must not cause exposure to another health or safety hazard. Therefore, the shade requirement cannot be met by using areas underneath mobile equipment, like a tractor, or areas that require employees to crouch in order to sit fully in the shade.

The shade, whether natural or structural, must be as close as practicable to where employees are working, given the working conditions and layout of the work site. During a Cal/OSHA inspection, the inspector may ask the supervisor to describe the factors the employer considered in deciding where to place shade structures. Because shade is more portable than bathroom facilities, it can and should be placed closer to where employees work. This may involve placing shade structures in multiple areas over large work sites and/or moving the structures as the work area changes (such as movement across fields and rows).

When the employer can demonstrate that it is infeasible or unsafe to have a shade structure, or otherwise to have shade present on a continuous basis, the employer may use alternative procedures for providing access to shade as long as the alternative procedures provide equivalent protection.