By Charlotte Brody
Commissioner, National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health

There is no question that our country, like the rest of the world, is getting hotter. NASA reports that 18 of the 19 warmest years on record have occurred since 2000. Early predictions are that summer 2025 will also break previous records. The question is: What are we going to do about it? 

Reducing carbon pollution will take some time and more governments dedicated to the task. But workers across the country facing the threat of heat-related illness in the coming months need protection now. Guaranteed access to cool water, rest periods in cool spaces, acclimatization, monitoring, training, emergency procedures, and protection against retaliation can keep workers across the United States from getting sick or even dying from the heat. 

On Aug. 30, 2024, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed a rule that would provide those protections to 36 million workers in the United States. The Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings proposed rule builds on OSHA’s congressionally mandated mission “to assure America's workers have safe and healthful working conditions free from unlawful retaliation.” 

However, OSHA did not finalize the rule before the inauguration of Donald Trump. And in March, U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), Chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee, asked Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to rescind or withdraw OSHA’s proposed heat rules along with rules on worker walkaround representation and annual injury and illness data submission requirements. 

No matter what OSHA decides to do about its proposed heat standard, workers will still need protection from heat. This can happen if more states join the 15 that already have heat protection rules in place or in play. In addition to states, cities that aren’t threatened by Texas- or Florida-type state preemptions can enact their own version of the rule that Phoenix adopted in 2024. Companies can also implement their own heat injury and illness prevention plans using the OSHA framework or this checklist.

Protecting the people who work indoors and outdoors from the health and safety impacts of high heat truly can be a matter of life and death. We need to move forward now with commonsense steps and the common decency to do what must be done — with or without a federal OSHA rule — to prevent American workers from heat stress illnesses and deaths.

FREE RESOURCE
Protecting Employees From Extreme Heat‍

Tip sheets for both employers and employees sharing ways to prevent heat-related illnesses.

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Charlotte Brody is a registered nurse and the Vice President for Health Initiatives for the BlueGreen Alliance, a national strategic partnership between labor unions and environmental organizations dedicated to good jobs, a clean environment, and a thriving green economy. She is a co-founder of the Carolina Brown Lung Association, Health Care Without Harm, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and Healthy Babies Bright Futures. She is also a member of the National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health.

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