Washington, D.C. — Extreme heat health risks are growing as heat waves spurred by climate change become more frequent, longer lasting, and more intense. A new Center for American Progress report identifies workers who are most vulnerable to extreme heat and offers policy recommendations, including the adoption of a federal heat standard, to protect workers’ health, safety, and productivity.
Workers who are most exposed to extreme heat and in need of protection have the fewest resources to avoid hazardous job exposures. These same workers are disproportionately low-wage earners, people of color, and immigrants. This report outlines five actions that federal, state, and local policymakers should take to slow climate change and rising temperatures and reduce worker injuries, illnesses, and deaths from extreme heat:
- Accelerate and expand federal and state efforts to protect workers, including speeding the adoption of a federal heat standard.
- Raise awareness about and promote voluntary actions among employers to protect workers from the health risks of extreme heat.
- Increase workplace and community resilience to extreme heat.
- Prioritize the most at-risk communities and workers in the response to extreme heat.
- Accelerate the transition to a 100 percent clean energy economy to reduce planet-warming pollution and slow climate change and rising temperatures.
“OSHA must speed up its rulemaking to establish a federal heat standard to protect workers from economic and health damages caused by extreme heat,” said Jill Rosenthal, director of Public Health at CAP and co-author of the report. “At the same time, state governments should jump into action to enact and enforce heat standards that require employers to implement effective heat prevention plans that monitor and correct for extreme heat exposures; educate workers about extreme heat dangers; and use preventive measures such as paid rest breaks, water, and shade while working in hot conditions.”
“With summer approaching and temperatures rising, federal and state policymakers can’t afford to delay taking action to protect workers from the dangers of extreme heat.” said Rosa Barrientos-Ferrer, senior policy analyst for Immigration at CAP and co-author of the report. “Employers must also meet their obligation to protect workers—and voluntarily implement strategies while awaiting federal heat standards—to safeguard their workers’ health and ensure safe and productive workplaces.”
Read the report: “Extreme Heat Is More Dangerous for Workers Every Year” by Jill Rosenthal, Rosa Barrientos-Ferrer, and Kate Petosa
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sarah Nadeau at [email protected]