Regulating Heat
Here, in the California Bay Area, spring temperatures are trending upwards, and last week we had some of our first really warm days of the year. Which got me thinking — or rather, fuming — about the lack of heat-related protections for workers across much of the United States. Extreme heat has long impacted people on the job, resulting in an estimated 40 work-related heat deaths each year, and thousands of injuries. And, of course, the climate crisis is only making things worse. Yet so far, only five US states have passed laws that protect workers from extreme heat. Three states — California, Washington, and Colorado — protect all or some outdoor workers. Minnesota protects indoor workers. And Oregon one-ups them all by protecting both. That leaves much of the country without modest on-the-job protections around access to things like water, shade, and safety training for dealing with heat stress. What’s worse is that some states have taken a particularly cynical — and dangerous — stance, enacting laws that prevent cities and towns from enacting their own local standards around heat. (I’m looking at you, Texas and Florida.) Even California, which has been working on protections for indoor workers, isn’t quite meeting the mark: This week it announced that it plans to exclude prisons from the new rules, which would leave out not only prison staff, but also the tens of thousands of incarcerated people who hold jobs while in prison. A federal heat standard — first recommended more than 50 years ago — is in the works, but is several years off at best. In the meantime, it’s up to all of us to turn up the heat on lawmakers, and demand robust protections for workers.
|
