Biden Management to Draft Rule on Heat Hazards in the Workplace


WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is launching a federal agency-wide effort to address the health effects of heat, including the first labor standard aimed at protecting workers from extreme heat, as part of a growing recognition of the dangers posed by climate-induced warming temperatures. change.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, part of the Department of Labor, will draft its first rule of thumb regulating heat exposure designed to protect workers outdoors in agriculture, construction and delivery services, as well as workers in warehouses, factories and kitchens.

It comes after a summer of record heatwaves in the western United States and British Columbia, which scientists say is becoming more extreme due to climate change. According to National Weather Service, extreme heat is the country’s #1 weather-related killer.

“Over the past few weeks, I’ve traveled the country to see firsthand the devastating human and economic damage from extreme weather conditions exacerbated by climate change,” President Biden said in a statement. Said. “Rising temperatures pose an imminent threat to millions of American workers exposed to the elements, children in schools without air conditioning, the elderly in nursing homes without cooling resources, and particularly disadvantaged communities. My administration will not leave Americans alone with this threat.”

Management said it will set up an interagency Heat Disease Prevention Working Group to provide a better understanding of the challenges and the best ways to protect workers from heat injuries.

Along with writing the new rule, management said it will prioritize heat-related interventions and labor inspections on days when the heat index exceeds 80 degrees. The department is also already working to complete a program to target industries at higher risk of heat injuries before next summer and to devote more resources to inspections.

Rules and policies designed to protect workers from extreme heat are too late, but could be expensive for employers, depending on the details of how they were written, experts said.

“Heat sickness has long been underreported and underreported widely – and now it’s getting hotter,” said David Hondula, a professor in Arizona State University’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.

Hondula noted that some states and professional organizations, such as the United States Football Association, have already set limits on when and for how long workers can perform their duties in the heat.

Some of these guidelines, which could inform a federal rule, stop mandatory breaks for people who work in high temperatures for certain periods of time, and in some cases, work requirements when the heat index rises above a certain level. It also includes requirements for employers to provide shade, water and air conditioning where possible, and for employers to provide access to medical assistance for workers who are regularly exposed to heat.

But if such guidelines translate into federal regulations, they can increase costs or reduce productivity for some industries—especially the requirement that construction or other outdoor work be stopped altogether under certain heat conditions, said Dr. Hondu

“It’s fair to say it can be expensive,” he said, but noting that the economy already bears the brunt of the diseases and deaths associated with heat exposure. “We may already be pulling some of the production costs,” he said.

Marc Freedman, vice president of workplace policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said his organization looks forward to participating in OSHA’s rule-making process. However, he noted that there are “unique challenges” when it comes to establishing a heat safety standard.

“Temperature regulation is a very difficult hazard, as there is no common risk threshold and workers respond differently to exposure,” Mr. Freedman said.

In addition to the new workplace heat standards, the Department of Health has already issued guidelines for its Low Income Energy Assistance Program, which has been used in the past to help people unable to pay their heating bills in extreme cold, to help cover the costs of home air. -Air conditioning and cooling centers during extreme heat.

And the Environmental Protection Agency is using funds from the economic incentives law passed this year to provide technical assistance to create neighborhood cooling centers in public schools.

The new OSHA rule is one of the first direct government responses to an emerging field of research showing that extreme heat is harming and killing more workers and vulnerable populations.

a study published this summer found that heat contributes to far more workplace injuries than official records, and these injuries are concentrated among the poorest workers. Warmer days don’t just mean more cases heat Researchers have found that the heat makes it difficult to concentrate, as well as paralysis or exhaustion, as well as injuries from falls, being hit by vehicles, or mishandling machinery.

And after Hurricane Ida punched New Orleans this month, more people in the city died from exposure to heat after the storm was killed by the flood waters.

A study published in May found that the increased risk of overlap heat waves and power outages pose a serious threat to major American cities. Power outages have increased by more than 60 percent since 2015 as climate change intensifies heat waves, according to the study. In the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Using computer models to study three major U.S. cities, the authors report a combined power outage and heat wave will expose at least two-thirds of its residents to warm up exhaustion or heat stroke.

And other research is further evidence that rising temperatures are widening the racial achievement gap in United States schools, and that the burdens of climate change are disproportionately falling on people of color. Inside an article published Researchers in the journal Nature Human Behavior found that students performed worse on standardized tests for each additional day of 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, even after controlling for other factors. These effects, which are retained in 58 countries, the link between heat exposure and reduced learning.



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