The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH), which advocates for abuse- and exploitation-free workplaces, is building on local organizing with a nationwide campaign to pass the federal OSHA rule. It has 20 local affiliates and also serves as a hub for smaller grassroots groups like Warehouse Workers for Justice (WWJ), a worker center in Illinois. 
 

Workplace violence is a “known and dangerous workplace hazard,” particularly in retail environments, said Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.
 

In the interim, workers are fighting for what the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) calls “heat justice.” COSH, a federation of 26 grassroots worker groups, is advocating for a slightly more comprehensive national heat standard than proposed by OSHA. The COSH standard would require workplaces to maintain a maximum temperature of 80 degrees, and if that is exceeded, ensure that workers have access to water and breaks in air-conditioned spaces.

Ascension — the largest nonprofit and Catholic health system in the United States as of 2021, with 140 hospitals in 19 states — has come under fire from the NNU and other labor advocacy groups. In April, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a worker health and safety advocacy group, listed Ascension among its annual “Dirty Dozen” list of employers, alleging poor safety practices and “severe staff cuts” that “create unsafe conditions for patients and workers” in its report.

“It is hard to overstate how life saving this proposal will be if it becomes a rule,” said Katelyn Parady, a Phoenix-based staffer with the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.

“Not only talking about the need for the rule,” Parker said during a Sept. 5 webinar hosted by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, “but how we can make the rule better would be really, really helpful from workers. These are conversations that are often dominated by industry organizations. Workers’ voices on these issues are critical.”

According to Katelyn Parady, Phoenix staffer of the National Council for Occupational Safety, said federal enforcement is vital to make sure working Arizonans are staying safe because the local enforcement does not protect all workers who work in the deadly heat.

“The numbers we’re talking about are very small,” Parady said. “I think in Phoenix the estimate is that it’s going to cover something like 10,000 people, and obviously we know many, many more people are dealing with heat on the job here.”

Only five U.S. states currently have their own heat safety standards for workers. Katelyn Parady, a Phoenix staffer of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, says Arizona is not included in that list.

As extreme heat continues to pose a threat to workers across the United States, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) is organizing a virtual town hall to address this issue. 

“There’s ample data going back decades that shows that Black and Latino workers have the most dangerous, dirtiest job assignments, and immigrant Latino workers typically face a higher risk of both fatal and nonfatal injuries on the job,” said Jessica Martinez, Los Angeles-based co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.

“The Supreme Court majority, over the opposition of two justices, let stand the rejection of these claims, which would have catastrophically hobbled OSHA’s mandate to protect worker safety,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the Somerville, Massachusetts-based National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.

Darryl Alexander, an industrial hygienist and advisor for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said Silver’s death underscores a greater need for employers to take heat illnesses seriously. Though many waste operators take meticulous steps to protect their workers, she said, some employers aren’t prioritizing heat safety measures, either because they aren’t required to by law or are not aware of the specific conditions their employees endure.

Perez's death has caused outrage across the country, with activists in Mississippi demanding Mar-Jac be held accountable for the teen's death less than two weeks after he was killed. In April, another group, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health named the company to its Dirty Dozen, claiming Mar-Jac is one of the country's most dangerous places to work.

Scott Schneider with the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health says the draft does not address workers in specific types of clothing…“If you are working and you are wearing impermeable clothing, like you’re wearing a Tychem suit like you’re doing asbestos abatement, or you’re out in the field and wearing protective clothing to protect you from pesticide use, that clothing can prevent you sweating and that will increase your heat stress risk.”

Scott Schneider is one of Maryland's members of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH). He says the push for heat stress standards in the workplace is happening on the federal level too. But the process of changing Occupational Safety and Health Administration(OSHA) regulations takes significantly longer. Schneider showed us the 33 steps it takes for OSHA to add a new rule.

Over the course of the past several months, Walmart has faced several instances of scrutiny over its labor practices. It was named to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH)’s “Dirty Dozen” list earlier this year. The organization highlighted what it considers unsafe working practices and lack of care for employees’ wellbeing going on inside Walmart.

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health released a statement on the audit that says, in part:

“After years of failing to ensure workers’ safety on the job, Arizona’s Department of Occupational Safety and Health is moving in the right direction and operating with more staff resources. But we’re still a long way from where we need to be, with far too few inspections and findings of enforcement delays.”

"My sense is definitely, in keeping with climate change, that more workers are complaining about higher and higher heat and humidity," said Rick Rabin, trainer and technical consultant at the workers' rights nonprofit Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH).

The proposal is a long-awaited move in the agency’s efforts to keep workers safe in soaring temperatures. The draft of the document was hailed by worker advocacy groups that say federal OSHA has lagged behind states such as Arizona and California in creating guidelines for employers whose workers face such risks as heat stroke. The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health issued a statement on July 2 calling OSHA’s announcement “a critical step in protecting millions of workers from heat-related illnesses and injuries.”

"These protections ensure that employers proactively safeguard their workforce,” says Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. “Heat-related illnesses are preventable, and no worker should endure unsafe conditions. This rule provides a clear framework for promoting a culture of safety and responsibility."