6 Sep 2024
For immediate release
Contact: Roger Kerson, roger@nationalcosh.org, 734.645.0535
National COSH Town Hall on Heat Justice:
Workers tell public officials: We’re Fired up,
Fed Up with Extreme Heat
Push is on for new safety rules, workplace action as proposed
OSHA heat standard is open for public comment
LOS ANGELES – Workers from agriculture, warehousing, retail and other industries spoke loudly and clearly today at a Town Hall for Heat Justice convened by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).
“Last year, we lost a colleague at my facility during a sudden heat wave,” said Montrell Oliver, a member of Warehouse Workers for Justice, who works at an Amazon warehouse in Joliet, Illinois. “What we need now is for the government to take heat as seriously as me and my colleagues do after losing one of our own last summer.”
Workers gathered today as part of a nationwide campaign to create the strongest possible safety standards – including employer-provided rest, water and shade – for protection against extreme heat. Rising temperatures due to climate change present serious dangers to workers in both indoor and outdoor settings.
Extreme heat claims at least 2,000 lives a year and results in 170,000 in workplace injuries and illnesses, according to Public Citizen. These numbers are underestimates, as high temperatures contribute to many work-related health events – such as heart attacks or respiratory illnesses – are not properly recorded. According to one scientific estimate, lost productivity due to heat-related illness, for outdoor workers alone, costs the U.S. economy more than $90 billion a year.
In recent months, workers, unions, COSH groups, workers' centers and allies have joined together to win new heat safety ordinances in Phoenix, Tucson and Pima County Arizona, as well as a new indoor heat safety rule covering 1.4 million workers in California. A new heat standard is now being finalized for the state of Maryland, with input from National COSH advisors to make it as strong as possible.
And last week, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), responding to demands from workers, published a proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention standard. The landmark rule, the first-ever nationwide standard to offer protection from extreme heat, is open for public comment from now until December 30.
“Workers all over the country are passing out, suffering heat stroke and dying from heat exposure from just doing their jobs, and something must be done to protect them,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Douglas L. Parker, who spoke during the National COSH Town Hall. “This proposal is an important next step in the process to receive public input to craft a ‘win-win’ final rule that protects workers while being practical and workable for employers.”
“We’re here today because of workers like Cody Treatch,” said National COSH Executive Director Jessica E. Martinez. Treatch, a young father and husband, died last week. from dehydration and heat exposure while training to be a firefighter at Rural Metro, near Tucson.
“No worker, anywhere, in any job, should face extreme heat without protection," said Martinez. “Not during training, not during any work assignment. No crop, box, or product is worth more than a worker’s life. When should we make time for breaks, water, and shade? Always. Every day, every job, every shift. That’s how we keep workers like Cody alive.”
Octavio Sanchez Cruz, a member of the Workers Center of Central New York, described working conditions at the Demko Farm, in Lowville, NY, where he has worked for the past six years.
“Worker shifts are six to twelve hours with no time to sit down or drink water. We are tired of relying on our employers to fix the conditions because when we demand justice, they retaliate, said Sanchez Cruz. “We need laws for excessive heat because no one should suffer for their job.”
“It was 103 degrees in my store, said Nakeesha Pickens, a member of SEIU/Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW) from Asheville, NC and former worker at Energy Mart. “I would sweat so much, feel light headed and dizzy, get blurry vision, fall out of breath, and get nauseous.”
“We were told the A/C would get fixed, that didn’t happen. We were told we’d get a portable A/C unit, that didn’t happen,” said Pickens. “That’s why me and my co-workers went on STRIKE for safe working conditions. And guess what? It didn’t take long before they FIXED it, after making excuses for so long.”
Workers are fed up with a lack of action on extreme heat, said Pickens. “If you’re fed up too, then I want you to take a stand with me for safe jobs.”
Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), a lead sponsor of the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act, also spoke at the Town Hall event. “We all owe a tremendous thank you to the frontline workers for speaking out today and sharing their stories,” she said. “Their firsthand experiences demonstrate so clearly just how dangerous excessive exposure to heat is in workplaces across the country and why it is so necessary that we build on success at the state level in places like California and push for a federal standard to protect workers from heat illnesses and fatalities.”
To stay informed and support efforts for national, state and local heat safety standards, workers and allies can sign the National COSH petition to Demand Heat Justice.