“In terms of exposure to the airborne nature of [respiratory illnesses], you think about cashiers, they're having lots of close contact with people,” Peter Dooley, a Certified Industrial Hygienist for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said of the large jump in cases of respiratory illnesses among grocery store workers.

The latest BLS injury and illness statistics “show the urgent need for worker-centered safety reforms,” especially since the data only reflects injuries and illnesses that are officially reported, meaning higher numbers of incidents are likely occurring in U.S. workplaces, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a federation of grassroots worker groups, said in a statement.

“Workers more than anyone understand their jobs and worker-centered solutions lead to the most effective safety reforms that can prevent injuries and illnesses before they happen,” said Jessica Martinez, National COSH’s co-executive director. 

“Workers more than anyone understand their jobs and worker-centered solutions lead to the most effective safety reforms that can prevent injuries and illnesses before they happen,” National COSH Co-Executive Director Jessica Martinez said in a statement. 

“Workers are not disposable, so they need urgent protections … in particular in areas such as Miami-Dade where 1 in 4 workers work outdoors,” said Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health, a worker advocacy group affiliated with WeCount. Data from the Union of Concerned Scientists shows that 26 percent of the county’s workforce, or more than 300,000 people, work outdoors.

“Heat illness is one of the most preventable conditions in a workplace environment,” said Peter Dooley, a Tucson-based safety professional for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH). “The solutions are simple: water, rest, shade. But there needs to be a program in place to prevent it.”

 

Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, the co-executive director for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, says there’s been a significant number of workplace homicides at rental apartments across the nation over the last several months.

Wage theft is not uncommon for immigrants to experience, said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, Co-Executive Director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. 

For children to thrive, their parents need access to living wages, safe working conditions and predictable schedules. Three W.K. Kellogg Foundation grantees organizing around these issues are the National Council for Occupational Health and Safety (National COSH), Jobs With Justice, and National Black Worker Centers.

Katelyn Parady from the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health was among the people who spoke on Sept. 6 as Sky Harbor workers announced a complaint they filed with Arizona’s safety watchdog.

The National Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health has a list of worker-demanded heat protections, including access to cool-down areas below 82 degrees.

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) is leading a campaign to push OSHA to quickly develop a heat standard.

“In a just transition to production of climate-friendly modes of transportation, the best practices for ensuring worker health and safety should be enshrined as a matter of standard corporate (and public) practice in union contracts,” Michael Felsen, who worked as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor for nearly four decades and now serves as an advisor for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, tells In These Times. ​“We urgently need a rapid transition to safe energy alternatives, but we cannot allow worker health and safety to be sacrificed in the process.”

“This Labor Day, we think it’s essential to focus on what’s needed to make all jobs safe and secure,” Jessica E. Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH), said. The federation includes 26 grassroots worker groups and a broad community of unions, workers’ centers, health and safety professionals, academic specialists and non-profit advocates, and promotes training and support for worker organizing and advocacy.

But OSHA really isn't working fast enough, said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, at the press conference. "The OSHA normal standard-making process is extremely lengthy," she said. "These rules can take 7 years, and that's too long, because how many workers will die in the meantime?"

“It’s important … that the president recognizes there’s an urgent issue,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. “In some ways there’s a risk of this announcement creating some confusion about what’s needed. What’s really needed is a standard, and fast.”

On  July 28, leaders of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) said that modest steps announced by the White House to protect workers from extreme heat are insufficient.

“Tragically, workers are getting sick and dying every day from the extreme heat driven by climate change,” said Jessica E. Martinez, co-executive director of National COSH, in a blog post on the organization’s website. “This is no time for modest steps. The President, Congress, federal OSHA and state and local officials must take bold action now, to reduce risk and save lives.”

Advocacy groups, like the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health, have called for a national standard protecting workers from climate change’s effects, including smoke, heat stress and severe weather events, like wildfires— as the country continues to deal with extreme heat and air pollution from wildfires in Canada and the western U.S.

Not good enough, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health complained Friday. 

"Workers are getting sick and dying every day from the extreme heat driven by climate change," said co-executive director Jessica Martinez. 

The group called on Biden to order an emergency temporary standard to better protect workers from heat stress, establish a more stringent permanent threshold for protections and urge states to impose their own rules. 

"This is no time for modest steps."

All employers nationwide are already required to take steps to protect workers from any known hazards on the job. But issuing heat-specific regulations would clearly outline employers’ responsibilities, said Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, which advocates for safer workplaces.

“Federal law is crystal clear,” said Katelyn Parady, a Phoenix-based worker health and safety professional with National COSH. “Employers are required to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards – and that definitely includes the very dangerous hazards created by current record-breaking temperatures here in Arizona.”