Dear Governor Hobbs, Director Testini, and Director Hudson:
 

We are writing to urge the Arizona Department of Occupational Safety and Health to develop and adopt an enforceable Heat Injury and Illness Prevention rule ensuring the strongest possible heat safety protections for indoor and outdoor workers in Arizona. Collectively, our organizations represent and support people who routinely experience dangerous heat exposure while laboring as landscapers, airport workers, construction and day laborers, farmworkers, hotel workers, and in many other essential, low-wage jobs with high-heat hazards. We see firsthand the toll that laboring under high temperatures without adequate protections takes on our families and communities.

Every year across the U.S., as many as 2,000 workers die from occupational heat exposure [1] while hundreds of thousands of others suffer from non-fatal heat-related illnesses and injuries. Heat causes an estimated 170,000 workplace injuries annually, with injuries increasing as temperatures increase. [2] The physical, emotional, and financial costs to workers and their families are profound and well-documented. When workers miss work due to heat-related illness, they lose wages, spiral into medical debt, and suffer a long-term loss of earning power [3].

These costs are not borne evenly. Black, Latino, and low-wage workers are far more likely to be killed by heat on the job than others. One study found the risk of dying from heat exposure is 91% higher for Mexican-born construction workers than the average for all other construction workers, and 51% higher for Black construction workers [4].

In the face of such grim realities, seven U.S. states have adopted enforceable standards to protect workers from heat. It's well past time for Arizona -- where workers face some of the highest temperatures and greatest number of high-heat days -- to do the same. The lives of Arizona workers depend on it. That's not hyperbole. In our neighboring state of California, an enforceable CAL/OSHA heat standard was found to have decreased outdoor worker deaths by a staggering 43% [5]. Working Arizonans deserve the same lifesaving protections, with the full force of the law behind them. 

Arizona's working families also deserve the economic benefits of enforceable worker heat protection standards. The lack of basic heat safety protections in the U.S. costs our economy an estimated $100 billion annually [6]. High temperatures significantly impair workers' productivity [7] -- especially when employers fail to provide adequate water, rest, and access to cool air. A comprehensive state heat standard is a critical mitigation strategy to reduce economic losses here in Arizona as climate change continues to intensify temperatures.

Heat hazard mitigation is simple. It saves lives, prevents suffering, and improves economic productivity. For these reasons we are calling on the Industrial Commission of Arizona and the Arizona Department of Occupational Safety and Health to put the strongest possible, enforceable heat safety standard in place, as quickly as possible. The lives and wellbeing of working Arizonans are at stake.

Sincerely,

AFSCME
Agave Community Threads
Arizona AFL-CIO
Arizona AANHPI for Equity
Arizona Education Association 
Arizona Heat Standards Coalition
Arizona Interfaith Power & Light
Arizona Jobs with Justice
Arizona State Association of Letter Carriers
Association of Professional Flight Attendants 
Beyond the Bars
Campesinos Sin Fronteras
Care in Action
Chispa Arizona
Corazón Arizona
Dancesequences Inc.
Elders Climate Action - Arizona Chapter
Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project - FLAP
Josefina Ahumada Worker Center
International Safety Equipment Association
LIUNA Local 777
Mi Familia en Acción
National Council for Occupational Safety and Health
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Organized Power in Numbers
PCUN
Poder Latinx
SEIU
Sierra Club - Grand Canyon Chapter
Teamsters Local 104
Union of Concerned Scientists
United Farm Workers
United Steelworkers
Western NC Workers Center
Worksafe
Workers United

Individual Signatories

Arizona State Senator Flavio Bravo (AZ-26)
Arizona State Senator Lauren Kuby, (AZ-8)
Arizona State Senator Catherine Miranda (AZ-11)
Arizona State Senator Analise Ortiz, (AZ- 24)
Arizona State Representative Anna Abeytia (LD-24)
Arizona State Representative Cesar Aguilar, (LD-26)
Arizona State Representative Lorena Austin (LD9)
Arizona State Representative Seth Blattman (LD9)
Arizona State Representative Sarah Liguori (LD5)
Arizona State Representative Elda Luna-Nájera (LD 22)
Arizona State Representative Mariana Sandoval (LD-23)
Arizona State Representative Stephanie Simacek (LD 2)
Arizona State Representative Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (AZ-21)
Arizona State Representative Betty Villegas (LD-20)

Elgin Avila PhD (c), MPH, CPH 
Sandy Bahr
Murphy Bannerman
Alana Billingsley
Monica Bills
Nile Bunger
Liliana Cruz 
Chas Damo
James Deshotel 
Eugenia Economos
Kris Francisco
Alice Freund, MSPH, retired Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH)
Bernie Gerard, BSN, RN, Health and Safety Advocate 
Dr. Mary Ann and Frank Graffagnino
Paloma Greenwald
David Harrington, MPH
hana hehman
Cruz Herrera
Maia Ingram
Francheska Juban
Lilian Kong
Karenne Koo
Paul Landsbergis
Melanie Morales 
Teresa Morris
David Myers
Henry Ng
Vladimir NIKIEMA
The Honorable Susi Nord, former NH State Representative
Katelyn Parady
Theresa Paszkiewicz
Laura Punnett
Martha Reyes 
Sarah Roberts 
Priscila Ruedas
Steve Sallman
Alex Sanchez
Dawn Schumann
Craig Slatin, ScD, MPH
Gabriela Stegmann
Kelly Tran
Whitney Yang
John Yee
Andrew Wong

[1] Fulcher, J. May 2023. “Hot Take: Urgent Heat Crisis for Workers”. Public Citizen.
[2] Morrissey, M., Yukio Kerr, Z., Brewer, G., Tishukaj, F., Casa, D., and R. Stearns. 2023. Analysis of Exertion-Related Injuries and Fatalities in Laborers in the United States. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 20(3):2683. 
[3] Leigh, J.P. 22 December 2011. Economic Burden of Occupational Injury and Illness in the United States. The Milbank Quarterly, A Multi-Disciplinary Journal of Population Health and Health Policy. 
[4] Dong, X., West, G., Holloway-Beth, A., Wang, X., and R. Sokas. 2019. Heat-related deaths among construction workers in the United States. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 62(12): 1047-1057.
[5] Dean, A. and J. McCallum. In preparation.The Effect of Heat Standards on Deaths Related to Outdoor Work. Center for Labor & a Just Economy at Harvard Law School. 
[6] Fulcher, J. May 2023. Hot Take:Urgent Heat Crisis for Workers. Public Citizen.
[7] Lai, W., Qiu, Q., Tang, Q., Xi, C. and P. Zhang. 2023. The Effects of Temperature on Labor Productivity. Annual Review of Resource Economics Vol. 15: 213-232.