Robert Jarvis wants answers. “Why’d you make us work that day?” he asks. “Why?”
With five workers dead and one still missing since Hurricane Helene struck on Sept. 27, many of us in Tennessee and around the country also want to know what went wrong that day – and if we can prevent it from happening again.
The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) strongly supports OSHA’s proposed rule to address heat-related hazards for both indoor and outdoor workers. The rule, which was announced today, is a critical step in protecting millions of workers from heat-related illnesses and injuries.
As we progress towards an ordinance here in Southern Arizona, let’s be bold in our determination to effectively confront the ever-more-deadly challenge that heat presents in our workplaces. We have the resources in our community to make this program the model for the rest of the state. Let’s honor the memory of Dario Mendoza – and others who, like him, shouldn’t have died on the job – by passing the robust heat exposure ordinance our workers need and deserve.
His first heat stroke came in 2018, when he lost consciousness and had to be hospitalized. The episode inspired WeCount!, an immigrant and worker advocacy group, to campaign for a local law that would require employers to provide water and rest and shade breaks for Miami-Dade County’s more than 60,000 agriculture and construction workers on excessively hot days.
Oxfam is far from the only organization that has tried to take action against Amazon and Walmart; earlier this year, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) named Walmart to its “Dirty Dozen” list, accusing it of “unsafe and reckless” conduct toward its employees.
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.
