Washington Administrative Code
Title 246 - Health, Department of
FACILITY STANDARDS AND LICENSING
Chapter 246-358 - Temporary worker housing
Section 246-358-010 - Definitions

(1) "Agricultural employee" means any person who renders personal services to, or under the direction of, an agricultural employer in connection with the employer's agricultural activity.

(2) "Agricultural employer" means any person engaged in agricultural activity, including the growing, producing, or harvesting of farm or nursery products, or engaged in the forestation or reforestation of lands, which includes, but is not limited to, the planting, transplanting, tubing, precommercial thinning, and thinning of trees and seedlings, the clearing, piling, and disposal of brush and slash, the harvest of Christmas trees, and other related activities.

(3) "Bathing facility" means an enclosed area provided by the operator for occupants to bathe or shower, and may be located within a family shelter or a common facility.

(4) "Building" means any structure used or intended by the operator to be used by occupants for cooking, eating, sleeping, sanitation, or other facilities.

(5) "Cherry harvest camp" means a place where housing and related facilities are provided to agricultural employees by agricultural employers or TWH operators for their use while employed for the harvest of cherries in the state of Washington.

(6) "Common" means a shared facility provided by the operator for all occupants of the TWH.

(7) "Communicable disease" means an illness caused by an infectious agent that can be transmitted from a person, animal, or object to a person by direct or indirect means including, but not limited to, transmission via an intermediate host or vector, food, water, or air.

(8) "Community-based outreach worker" means a legal aid representative, a union representative, or a representative from other community-based advocacy organizations.

(9) "Community health worker" means a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of or has a close understanding of the community served.

(10) "Dining hall" means a cafeteria-type eating place with food furnished by and prepared under the direction of the operator for consumption, with or without charge, by occupants.

(11) "Drinking fountain" means a fixture equal to a nationally recognized standard or a designed-to-drain faucet which provides potable drinking water under pressure. "Drinking fountain" does not mean a bubble-type water dispenser.

(12) "Dwelling unit" means a shelter, tent, building, or portion of a building, which may include cooking and eating facilities, that is:

(13) "Family shelter" means a dwelling unit with sleeping facilities for up to 15 occupants that may include toilet or cooking facilities. If services such as bathing, food-handling, or toilet facilities are provided in the family shelter, they are for the sole use of the occupants of the family shelter.

(14) "First-aid trained" means the person holds a current certificate of first-aid training.

(15) "Floor space" means the area within a dwelling unit with a minimum ceiling height of seven feet.

(16) "Food-handling facility" means an enclosed area provided by the operator for occupants to prepare their own food, and may be within a family shelter or common facility.

(17) "Group A public water system" means a public water system as defined under WAC 246-290-020.

(18) "Group B public water system" means a public water system that is not a Group A public water system, and is defined under WAC 246-291-005.

(19) "Habitable room" means a room or space in a structure used for living, sleeping, eating, or cooking. Bathing facilities, toilet facilities, closets, halls, storage or utility space, and similar areas are not considered habitable rooms.

(20) "Livestock" means horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry, etc.

(21) "Local health jurisdiction" or "LHJ" means a county health department under chapter 70.05 RCW, city-county health department under chapter 70.08 RCW, or health district under chapter 70.46 RCW.

(22) "Mechanical ventilation system" means a mechanism that actively processes supplying air to or removing air from an indoor space by powered equipment such as motor-driven fans and blowers but not by devices such as kitchen or bathroom exhaust fans, wind-driven turbine ventilators, and mechanically operated windows.

(23) "Occupant" means a temporary worker or a person who resides with a temporary worker at the TWH.

(24) "Operating license" or "license" means a document issued annually by the department of health.

(25) "Operator" means a person holding legal title to the land on which the TWH is located. However, if the legal title and the right to possession are in different persons, "operator" means a person having the lawful control or supervision over the TWH.

(26) "Outbreak" means the occurrence of a condition in an area over a given period of time in excess of the expected number of occurrences including, but not limited to, foodborne disease, wa-terborne disease, and health care-associated infection.

(27) "Recreational park trailers" means a trailer-type unit that is primarily designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or seasonal use, that meets the following criteria:

(28) "Recreational vehicle" means a vehicular type unit that is compliant with chapter 296-150R WAC and primarily designed as temporary living quarters for recreational camping, travel, or seasonal use that either has its own motive of power or is mounted on, or towed by, another vehicle. Recreational vehicles include: Camping trailers, fifth-wheel trailers, motor homes, travel trailers, and truck campers, but does not include pickup trucks with camper shells, canopies, or other similar coverings.

(29) "Refuse" means solid wastes, rubbish, or garbage.

(30) "Suspected case" means a person that is suspected by a medical provider or public health provider of having a notifiable condition, but the diagnosis has not yet been confirmed by the medical provider.

(31) "Temporary worker" or "worker" means an agricultural employee employed intermittently and not residing year-round at the same TWH site.

(32) "Temporary worker housing (TWH)" or "housing" means a place, area, or piece of land where sleeping places or housing sites are provided by an agricultural employer for his or her agricultural employees or by another person, including a temporary worker housing operator, who is providing such accommodations for employees for temporary, seasonal occupancy. TWH includes cherry harvest camps.

(33) "Tent" means an enclosure or shelter used at a cherry harvest camp that is constructed of fabric or pliable material composed of rigid framework to support a tensioned membrane that provides a weather barrier.

(34) "Worker-supplied housing" means housing provided by the worker and made available to the same worker on the operator's TWH site. Worker-supplied housing includes recreational park trailers, recreational vehicles, tents, or other structures that meet the requirements of this chapter.