Extreme heat is endangering workers across the country. Just this week, we’re seeing dangerously high temperatures from Texas to Montana that will increase the risk of heat-related illnesses! Heat already kills more people than hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods combined. And as climate change brings more heat waves, things will only get worse. - Heat is likely responsible for at least 170,000 work-related injuries and between 600 and 2,000 occupational fatalities in the United States every year, which would rank it third among all causes of worker injuries and death
- Workers of color are worst impacted, especially farm workers, who are overwhelmingly immigrants.
- A heat-safety standard issued by California reduced injuries by 30%, suggesting that injuries and illnesses could be avoided nationwide with a simple safety rule
But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) — the federal agency that is supposed to protect workers — is taking far too long to develop workplace heat standards. This is not complicated stuff. The main components of a heat rule are requirements to provide water, shade and breaks. We need your help to show the agency that there is overwhelming public support for an emergency safety rule that would protect workers from heat this summer. Add your name: Tell OSHA to issue an emergency safety rule that protects workers. Public Citizen has pressed OSHA to issue workplace heat standards for more than a decade. Last year, after thousands of you spoke out, OSHA finally started the process of creating protections against heat in the workplace. But this is a long process. We anticipate it will take 6-8 years before workers see any relief. Meanwhile, that’s 6-8 more years where farmworkers, construction workers, gardeners and warehouse workers, and will be exposed to unsafe levels of heat! So Public Citizen is petitioning OSHA once again to tell them: The heat stress crisis is only getting worse. We can’t wait for a long bureaucratic process to conclude while workers are injured and dying this summer. You must immediately issue an emergency safety standard that protects workers from heat-related illness, injury, and death. Add your name. Thanks for taking action. For progress, - Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen | 
