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Legislation seeks to protect workers from excessive heat

When Dr. Doug Girling trains to compete in long-distance running races, he sets an alarm on his watch to go off every half hour to remind him to take a break to rest and hydrate.

“A tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of salt in a glass of water is a good recipe,” said Girling, co-director of the Emergency Department at Glens Falls Hospital.

The same concept applies in preventing heat exhaustion in summer months at workplaces such as farms, commercial and restaurant kitchens and amusement parks.

“There’s not too much sort of rocket science in this,” Girling said, speaking about preventing heat exhaustion in general, not the merits of specific legislation. “The planned strategy is really important. That pays dividends at the end of the road or at the end of the shift.”

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest coalition of labor unions, suggests that the potential of heat exhaustion in the workplace is increasing as a result of climate change.

The organization has identified as a priority this year legislation to require the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to establish a standard for preventing heat exhaustion in the workplace.

In 2020, nationwide, 56 workers died from heat exhaustion in the workplace, a 30% increase over previous years, according to the AFL-CIO.

“Preventing heat illness is straightforward,” said William Samuel, director of government affairs for the AFL-CIO, in a policy statement supporting the legislation. “Employers must have a plan to provide water, rest and shade when conditions are hot.”

U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, said the recent August heat wave, when temperatures ran consistently in the 90s and 100s for days, shows the importance of the legislation.

Tonko is one of 112 co-sponsors, all Democrats, of the proposed legislation, H.R. 2193.

“This month of August may be a record for heat content,” Tonko said in a telephone interview.

The legislation would require OSHA to develop an excessive heat standard. It also would require employers to develop a plan for preventing heat exhaustion by providing regular breaks in a shaded or air-conditioned areas and providing drinking water when temperatures are extreme.

It would also establish training for workers and managers.

The legislation also would protect “whistleblowers” who alert authorities of unsafe heat-related work conditions.

In New York state, 14 Democratic House members have co-sponsored the legislation, which passed the House Education and Labor Committee on July 27 by a 27-19 vote.

All Republican members of the committee, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, voted against the legislation.

“I stood up for upstate New York and North Country farmers and small businesses against this bill that imposes a one-size-fits-all Washington mandate and increases more bureaucratic red tape that would hurt food production and exacerbate the crises small businesses are already facing in our district. … I remain supportive of promoting safe workplaces through OSHA working collaboratively with employers to help them comply with the laws already in place,” Stefanik said in a statement.

Matt Castelli, her Democratic challenger in NY-21, supports the legislation.

“Over the last decade, hundreds of workers have died from exposure to excessive heat, and we can expect that risk to increase due to the impacts of climate change,” said Castelli, a former CIA counterterrorism official who lives in Glens Falls.

“OSHA’s responsibility is to protect the safety and health of workers, and I support legislation that would ensure OSHA’s adoption of a national heat safety standard as part of their mandate,” he added.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the legislation.

Bill named for fallen worker

The legislation is named in memory of Asuncion Valdivia, a 53-year-old California vineyard worker who collapsed and died in 2004 after picking grapes for 10 hours in heat that reached 105 degrees.

Instead of calling for an ambulance, the employer asked one of Valdivia’s relatives to drive him to a hospital, Tonko said.

The legislation would apply to both indoor and outdoor workplaces.

“Excessive heat includes outdoor or indoor exposure to heat levels that exceed the capabilities of the body to maintain normal body functions and may cause heat-related injury, illness or fatality,” the legislation states.

The impetus is outdoor workplaces such as farms, construction sites and truck-loading depots.

“The new climate pattern is especially hazardous for our country’s farm workers, who are roughly 20 times more likely to die of heat-related causes than workers in all other current occupations,” said Rep. Judy Chu, D-California, who introduced the legislation.

Outdoor workers in the United States have up to 35 times more risk of dying from heat exposure than the general population, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group that supports the legislation.

Critics say process rushed

Opponents of the legislation say it is being rushed through without due process, it duplicates existing OSHA efforts and does not take into account regional differences in climate.

The National Federation of Independent Business, National Retail Federation, the American Farm Bureau Federation and its New York affiliate all oppose the legislation.

“We oppose the legislation as we believe it would take away from the OSHA rulemaking process that is currently developing a heat illness standard,” said Steve Ammerman, a spokesman for New York Farm Bureau.

The American Farm Bureau suggested an alternative to the legislation.

“AFBF finds that a better approach to ensuring fewer heat-related illnesses, injuries or death is for OSHA to partner with employers to promote understanding of the current obligations under existing laws and regulations and provide appropriate training materials to mitigate the impact of heat on farms and ranches,” the organization said in a policy statement. “OSHA should also develop materials that educate employees on the importance of making healthy choices outside the workplace to better prepare them for working in warm temperatures, as well as making sure they understand the importance of taking breaks, seeking shade and hydrating throughout the workday.”

The Union of Concerned Scientists said the OSHA and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on heat exposure are only recommendations.

“These are just recommendations in most states, meaning they are voluntary,” the organization said.

California and Washington are the only states that have mandatory heat exposure standards, according to the organization.

Republican congressional candidate Liz Lemery Joy, who opposes the legislation, said the legislation would add to the challenges of New York farmers who already are facing pressure from a new state farm worker overtime law that a state panel has recommended making more stringent.

“It not only is bad policy, but it jeopardizes our food security,” said Joy, a former blogger and speaker from Schenectady who is challenging Tonko in the 20th Congressional District.

Joy said the law does not account for regional differences in climate.

New York and California have very different weather conditions, she said in a telephone interview.

“I believe this bill is very flawed in that it does not provide any regional differential in determining the standard,” she said.

The legislation merely requires OSHA to establish a standard, which could incorporate regional differentials in the subsequent rulemaking process, Tonko said.

The Coalition for Workplace Safety, an advocacy organization whose membership includes banking, construction and manufacturing trade groups as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opposes the legislation.

“Heat exposure does not lend itself to a rushed, arbitrarily imposed process,” the group said, in a policy statement.

Tonko said that the legislation is not being rushed.

“This impacts many, many people,” he said. “It’s always the time to improve a situation when you see an injustice.”

Unless action on climate change is taken, the risk of heat exhaustion in the workplace will only become worse, said the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“Our analysis finds that by mid-century, given slow or no action to reduce global heat-trapping emissions, the increased intensity, frequency and geographic extent of extreme heat would cause a three- to four-fold increase in the exposure of outdoor workers to days with a heat index — or “feels like” temperature — above 100 degrees F, the point at which the CDC recommends that work hours begin to be reduced.”

It is difficult to say whether there is a correlation locally between climate change and heat workplace heat exhaustion because Glens Falls Hospital typically treats only the most severe cases that reach heat stroke, said Girling, the hospital’s emergency room doctor.

Hospital spokesman Ray Agnew said the number of cases this summer was on par with 2020 and 2021.

“However, we saw significantly more — 50 percent more — in the summer of 2020. There is not empirical data to suggest why this is so,” he said.

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