The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, better known as Cal/OSHA, came Wednesday to Kern County targeting employers for compliance with heat-illness prevention rules.

Under state regulations, employers must provide workers with training, water, shade and have a written procedure for complying with the Cal/OSHA heat-illness prevention standard.

"We're enforcing the heat standard," said Cal/OSHA Public Information Officer Erika Monterroza. :"It's the employer's responsibility."

At one alfalfa field on Highway 155 just west of the North Kern Prison, inspectors found numerous violations.

Workers were toiling under the hot sun moving irrigation pipes but had no access to shade as required by regulations.

Cal/OSHA engineer Rami de los Reyes interviewed crew boss Jaime Coronado, operator of Coronado Irrigation Service of Shafter.

"We checked his water, he doesn't''t have any single-use cups. He stated he has no first-aid kit and we see no bathrooms," said Reyes.

Coronado also admitted neither he nor his workers had any training on heat illness prevention.

The summer of 2008 has been harsh on California workers. According to Cal/OSHA, there's been four workers who have died of heat stroke. Three of those are in Kern County.

In May, oil field worker Julius Askew of Bakersfield succumbed to the heat and died. In July, farm workers Abdon Felix of Delano and Jorge Fidel Herrera were stricken by the heat.

And there could be a potential 4fourth death in Kern County. The coroner's office says it is still awaiting results on truck-driver Albert Esparza who worked for Key Energy.

The violations found at the alfalfa field were serious enough that it issued it's most severe action, a stop work against Coronado Irrigation Service.

The company cannot work anywhere until it demonstrates to Cal/OSHA it has met all of the workplace safety regulations. And it faces thousands of dollars in potential penalties.