The Heat Rule

As part of Trump’s pro-worker populist agenda he will probably get rid of the OSHA proposed heat rule for workers, which Biden put in motion shortly after taking power, but which is just finishing its public comment period (side note: these things just take too long). The heat rule would save lives, but might slightly inconvenience a construction contractor and who is more Trumpy than contractors? Despite its recent publication date, the writing of this was before the election and once again lays out what a pro-worker and an anti-worker administration look like in comparison:

Laborers have suffered as summers have grown progressively hotter with climate change. But health policy and occupational health researchers say that worker deaths are not inevitable. Employers can save lives by providing ample water and breaks and building in time for new workers to adjust to extreme heat.

This is the logic behind proposed national rules that President Joe Biden set in motion in 2021, aiming to protect an estimated 36 million workers exposed to extreme heat. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 480 worker deaths from heat exposure each year, on average. But these are “vast underestimates,” according to OSHA, because heat stress is an underlying factor often unaccounted for in medical records.

The advocacy organization Public Citizen estimates that as many as 2,000 U.S. workers die of heat annually, based on extrapolations from heat injury data.

Both estimates are upsetting, said Linda McCauley, dean of the nursing school at Emory University and an occupational health researcher. “No one should go to work expecting that they might die,” she said.

The proposed rules — a heat standard from OSHA — reaches a milestone Dec. 30, when the public comment period closes. But it’s unlikely to be finalized before Biden leaves office.

Vice President Kamala Harris would likely carry the heat rules forward if she wins the presidency next month, said Jordan Barab, who was OSHA’s deputy assistant secretary during the Obama administration. She advanced heat regulations in California in 2020.

Should Donald Trump win, the rules would stall, Barab predicts. In general, Republicans have opposed workplace safety regulations over the past 20 years, saying they are costly to businesses and consumers. And during the first Trump administration, the number of OSHA inspectors tasked with monitoring workplace safety hit an all-time low across the agency’s 48-year history. Workplace inspections regarding heat stress dropped by half on Trump’s watch, according to an analysis by the National Employment Law Project.

OSHA’s rules would require employers to provide ample, cool drinking water, and shade or air conditioning for breaks, when temperatures exceed 80 degrees. Above 90 degrees, employers would need to provide paid 15-minute breaks every two hours.

Two additional aspects of the standard confront overlooked problems that contribute to heat deaths at work. More than 70% of workers who die of heat do so within their first week on the job. And delayed medical care is a common theme.

“We need to stop telling people who complain of being about to pass out to go sit in the car or take a break,” McCauley said. “Rest breaks are needed to prevent the problem, but once someone has symptoms, they need help fast.”

The proposed rules require employers to allow new workers time to acclimate to high temperatures and to institute protocols, like a buddy system, so that workers get rapid medical care as soon as they show signs of heat illness, like dizziness, confusion, and cramps.

But of course plenty of workers voted for Trump too and this is part of the reason–workers have quite often resented safety procedures that have gotten in the way of their masculine culture. I wrote a little bit about this in the timber industry in Empire of Timber, but a place to really dig into this is Kris Paap’s Working Construction: Why White Working-Class Men Put Themselves—And the Labor Movement—In Harm’s Way. What can you say? They might not actually want to die, but they don’t think they will and it’s fun to work yourself up to the limit of life, I guess????