President Biden Asks the Department of Labor to Issue First-Ever Hazard Alert for Heat

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: White House Press Release

FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces New Actions to Protect Workers and Communities from Extreme Heat

HOME * BRIEFING ROOM * STATEMENTS AND RELEASES

President Biden Asks the Department of Labor to Issue First-Ever Hazard Alert for Heat and Announces New Investments to Protect Communities

Millions of Americans are currently experiencing the effects of extreme heat, which is growing in intensity, frequency, and duration due to the climate crisis.

Today, President Biden will convene Mayor Kate Gallego of Phoenix, Arizona, and Mayor Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio, Texas, to hear from them directly about how their communities are being impacted by extreme heat and to discuss the steps the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to protect communities like theirs. The President will also announce new measures to protect workers and communities across the country from the impacts of extreme heat.

* President Biden has asked the Department of Labor (DOL) to issue the first-ever Hazard Alert for heat, and DOL will also ramp up enforcement to protect workers from extreme heat. For years, heat has been the number one cause of weather-related deaths in America. And workers, including farmworkers, farmers, firefighters, and construction workers, are disproportionately impacted by extreme heat. Since 2011, more than 400 workers have died due to environmental heat exposure, and thousands more are hospitalized every year. The Hazard Alert will reaffirm that workers have heat-related protections under federal law. As part of the alert, the Department of Labor will provide information on what employers can and should be doing now to protect their workers, help ensure employees are aware of their rights, including protections against retaliation, and highlight the steps the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is currently taking to protect workers.

Additionally, the Department of Labor will ramp up enforcement of heat-safety violations, increasing inspections in high-risk industries like construction and agriculture, while OSHA continues to develop a national standard for workplace heat-safety rules.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/07/27/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-announce-new-actions-to-protect-workers-and-communities-from-extreme-heat/

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Hat tip, Joe.My.God.

https://www.joemygod.com/2023/07/feds-to-issue-heat-wave-hazard-alert-for-workers/

Feds To Issue Heat Wave “Hazard Alert” For Workers
July 27, 2023 Biden Administration, Climate Change

Via press release from the White House:

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. More Government overreach?

According to Governors like Gregg Abbott of Texas, who banned water breaks for those working outside in these awful conditions.

There comes the time when safety for workers is more of a priority than one's ego.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Out on the wires now! And good morning!!

Biden looks to provide relief from extreme heat as record temperatures persist across US

By CHRIS MEGERIAN, DREW COSTLEY and MATTHEW DALY
Updated 8:59 AM EDT, July 27, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — With millions of Americans facing broiling heat across the Southwest, President Joe Biden on Thursday plans to announce new steps to protect workers, improve weather forecasts and make drinking water more accessible, the White House says.

The announcement comes as nearly 40% of the U.S. population faces heat advisories, according to the National Weather Service, and high temperatures are expected to spread in the coming days to Midwest and Northeast.

Biden will be joined by the leaders of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described the heat wave as “a difficult time” and said Biden was treating climate change with “the urgency it requires.”

(snip)

https://apnews.com/article/biden-extreme-heat-climate-change-osha-d24be7fe0c7bb79bede655db10fe2e00

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. OSHA doesn't have any specific regulation that deals with work when it's hot.

It's covered by the "General Duty Clause."

Heat

Standards

Employer Responsibilities (OSHA Standard: General Duty Clause)

Under the General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are required to provide their employees with a place of employment that "is free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees." The courts have interpreted OSHA's general duty clause to mean that an employer has a legal obligation to provide a workplace free of conditions or activities that either the employer or industry recognizes as hazardous and that cause, or are likely to cause, death or serious physical harm to employees when there is a feasible method to abate the hazard. This includes heat-related hazards that are likely to cause death or serious bodily harm.

{snip}

Some states have regulations that deal with work in hot conditions.

Heat Standards in Specific States

Many U.S. states run their own OSHA-approved State Plans. Some states have adopted standards that cover hazards not addressed by federal OSHA standards. The following states have standards for heat exposure:

• California. California’s Heat Illness Prevention Standard requires employers to provide training, water, shade, and planning. A temperature of 80°F triggers the requirements. See CalOSHA's website. See the full text of the California heat standard.
• Minnesota. The standard applies to indoor places of employment. See the full text of the regulation.
• Washington. See Washington State’s Outdoor Heat Exposure Rule. See the full text of the regulation.

{snip}

From California:

High Heat Hazard Alert: Employers Must Protect Workers from Heat Illness

General Duty Clause:

US Department of Labor cites Okeechobee labor contractor after heat illness claims the life of 28-year-old farmworker in Parkland

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I was surprised by that

and we have seen this issue obviously bubble up with UPS and their "brown trucks" and have had the issue with numerous warehouses, most recently Amazon, because they have built so many, so the problem as become reported on more.

It is definitely needed now more than ever given the past decade has seen record after record for temps being broken.

I suppose it can be tricky to codify although I know many municipalities track heat-related deaths (which is the leading cause of weather-related fatalities), but that data would need to be separated out - "workplace" vs "resident. Then there would necessarily need to be a lot of discussion and debate on what "minimum operating temperatures" are acceptable.

That's gonna be a whole project!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. OSHA is at the pre-rule stage for this.

Unified Agenda - Current Agenda

• Title: Agency Rule List - Fall 2021

Agency Agenda Stage of Rulemaking Title RIN

DOL/OSHA Prerule Stage Process Safety Management and Prevention of Major Chemical Accidents 1218-AC82
DOL/OSHA Prerule Stage Emergency Response 1218-AC91
DOL/OSHA Prerule Stage Mechanical Power Presses Update 1218-AC98
DOL/OSHA Prerule Stage Prevention of Workplace Violence in Health Care and Social Assistance 1218-AD08
DOL/OSHA Prerule Stage Blood Lead Level for Medical Removal 1218-AD10
DOL/OSHA Prerule Stage Heat Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings 1218-AD39

{snip}

One of these days, something might get done.

Heat Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings

{snip}

[BumRushDaShow]

6. I can imagine

It's going to take a long time although I would think there could be some "interim" Rules and standards put in place until the more comprehensive Rule-making process gets going (I can imagine a draft Rule getting a billion comments, with the comment period being extended over and over).

[dalton99a]

7. +1

[Wild blueberry]

8. So refreshing to have a President who cares about workers

Thank you!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. OSHA also has a Heat Safety Tool website and apps for Android and iPhone.

Heat Safety Tool

Prevent Heat Illness at Work - Outdoor and indoor heat exposure can be dangerous.

By U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

{snip}

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. From a year ago: OSHA Dials Up Enforcement on Heat-Related Illnesses at Worksites

EMPLOYMENT & LABOR LAW

OSHA Dials Up Enforcement on Heat-Related Illnesses at Worksites

Published April 19, 2022

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched a new enforcement program aimed at preventing heat-related illnesses in construction and other high-risk industries by inspecting worksites when heat advisory or warnings are issued.

U.S. Secretary Marty Walsh joined Vice President Kamala Harris last week at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 Training Center in Philadelphia to announce the new enforcement program. Walsh said reducing workplace heat-related illnesses is a top priority, and the National Emphasis Program, will improve compliance while long-term work on OSHA heat illness prevention rules continues.

On days when the heat index is 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, OSHA inspectors and compliance assistance specialists will engage in proactive outreach and technical assistance to help employers keep workers safe on the job both indoors and outdoors. Inspectors will look for heat hazards during inspections, regardless of whether the industry is targeted in the NEP.

{snip}

[Bayard]

11. This is good for documented workers

But for undocumented migrants, the farm owners will keep flying under the radar.

[JohnnyRingo]

12. Alert the Freedom Caucus!

They have to carp about how Joe Biden is cramming his liberal agenda down our throats.

[Hekate]

13. Kick and Rec for Joe Biden

[Novara]

14. Because ignoring the extreme heat (which is now the norm) doesn't make it go away.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. Cal/OSHA appeals board issues 'precedential' decision on water for workers

Cal/OSHA appeals board issues ‘precedential’ decision on water for workers

Inside OSHA
March 6, 2023

California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) appeals board has issued what the agency is calling a “precedential” decision affirming that provisions of water at outdoor worksites must be “as close as practicable” to the areas where employees are working to encourage frequent consumption, bolstering the state’s heat-danger protections.

“This decision provides clarity and should serve as a reminder that employers must take adequate steps to ensure that potable drinking water is as close as practicable to workers,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Jeff Killip in a Feb. 27 press release announcing the appeals board decision in early February. “Staying adequately hydrated is essential to preventing heat illness, particularly during the hot summer months.”

Specifically, the decision “clarifies that the term ‘as close as practicable’ in terms of providing water to prevent heat illness means that the water must be as close as reasonably can be accomplished in order to encourage frequent water consumption,” according to Cal/OSHA.

The decision stems from an Aug. 6, 2018, complaint-initiated safety inspection by Cal/OSHA staff at the Rios Farming Co. vineyard in St. Helena, CA. “Inspectors found some workers had to climb through multiple grape trellises to access drinking water,” the release states.

Providing potable water during hot days is a key element of California’s worker safety standard for heat danger -- a rule that unions and others have touted as a model for OSHA’s forthcoming regulation.

{snip}

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. OSHA Heat Illness Prevention

OSHA Heat Illness Prevention