Lawmakers call for federal standards to protect workers from heat
WASHINGTON – More than 110 Democrats in Congress have called on President Biden to enact federal standards to protect workers from extreme heat.
The call for federal action comes at a time of record high temperatures.
In a letter to Biden, lawmakers said more than 55 million people are under heat alerts due to a heat wave stretching from Arizona to the Florida coast.
The letter calls for “the fastest possible implementation of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace heat standard to ensure that millions of people can go to work with greater confidence that they will return to their families alive and uninjured.”
Civil society groups estimate that extreme heat kills up to 2,000 workers and causes at least 170,000 injuries each year in the U.S. alone.
Several heat-related workplace deaths have already been reported this year as well. These include the deaths of an electrician and a postal worker in Texas.
Both deaths occurred just days after Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill repealing regulations that required companies to give employees water breaks.
Texas leads the state in the number of construction worker fatalities.
University of Texas study found that 39% of Texas construction workers are not given rest breaks on the job.
Activists say more workers have succumbed to heat illness in Texas over the past three decades than in any other state.
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