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.
The cuts to NIOSH pose a dire threat to immigrant workers, particularly those in high-heat, high-risk jobs like agriculture, warehousing and construction, said Jessica Martinez, executive director of the nonprofit National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. “We will see more injuries, more heatstroke and more deaths. The workers who feed us, build for us and care for our families deserve protection, not abandonment.”
“This is one of the biggest attacks on public health I have ever seen in my career,” said Charlene Obernauer, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH). “When you think about the work NIOSH does and what dismantling the agency means, it is pretty significant.”
“NIOSH reports in multiple languages are crucial,” Jessica E. Martinez, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a national federation of 25 grassroots worker organizations including NYCOSH.
The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), a group that advocates on behalf of workers, is taking an even dimmer view of the HHS’s workforce reductions. “The gutting of NIOSH is a direct assault on workers’ safety, health and lives, leading to more death, more injury and less accountability,” said Jessica Martinez, executive director of National COSH, in a statement.
