Protecting Workers from Heat Stress in a Warming Climate
Excessive heat exposure poses a direct threat to workers and the economy. Rising temperatures are projected to cause an increase in heat-related workplace injuries and illnesses, a dramatic loss in labor capacity, and decreased productivity. Heat is the leading weather-related killer, and it is becoming more dangerous. Eighteen of the 19 hottest years have occurred since 2001, and climate change is intensifying.[1] Despite these warnings, the U.S. does not have an occupational heat standard. The solutions are common-sense and cost-effective. Heat programs protect workers and the economy.
Health Risks
Excessive heat can cause heat stroke and even death if not treated properly. It also exacerbates existing health problems like asthma, kidney failure, and heart disease. Workers in agriculture and construction are at highest risk, but the problem affects all workers exposed to heat, including indoor workers without climate-controlled environments. Heat-related injuries and illnesses increase workers compensation costs and hospital-related expenses.[2] Given the threat, NIOSH has repeatedly recommended that OSHA issue a heat standard. The U.S. cannot afford to delay heat protections.
Productivity
Heat stress has reduced labor capacity by 10 percent over the past few decades.[3] Heat-related labor capacity losses are projected to double globally by 2050.[4] In some locations, 30 to 40 percent of daylight hours will become too hot for work by 2100.[5] Excessive heat is becoming a problem over more months a year and in more parts of the country. In excessive heat, people work less effectively due to “diminished ability for physical exertion and for completing mental tasks”, which increases the risk of accidents.[6] Reduced productivity decreases income for employers and workers.[7] The economic impacts are significant, with projected global GDP losses greater than 20 percent by the end of the century.[8]
Solutions
The solutions to heat stress are common sense: water, rest, and shade, among other measures. Yet most employers will not provide these measures voluntarily. In the absence of federal requirements, CA, WA, MN and the U.S. military have issued heat protections. From 2013–2017, CA used its heat standard to conduct 50 times more inspections resulting in a heat-related violation than OSHA did nationwide.[9]
Industry Heat Preventions
Without a federal standard, some sectors have begun taking matters into their own hands. The Communication Workers of America negotiated with AT&T, Verizon, Century-Link, and Frontier Communications to institute comprehensive heat programs for its members in 2011. Since that time, they have observed no heat-related fatalities, and heat-related health problems have significantly decreased. The United Steelworkers also has a collaborative heat program in place with positive results.
[1]Severe Weather Awareness – Heat Waves, National Weather Service (viewed on Oct. 16, 2018), https://bit.ly/2CQ3X6u; It’s Time to Protect Millions of Workers from Extreme Heat, CitizenVox (viewed on Oct. 16, 2018), https://bit.ly/2uPafwL; John Schwartz and Nadja Popovich, It’s Official: 2018 was the Fourth-Warmest Year on Record, The New York Times (Feb. 6, 2019), https://nyti.ms/2HX8s2t.
[2] Sidney Shapiro & Katherine Tracy, Public Law and Climate Disasters Occupational Health and Safety Law (Rosemary Lyster et al. eds., 1st ed., Edward Elgar Pub, 2018), https://amzn.to/2QTBWxJ; U.S. Global Change Research Program, Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II (Nov. 2018), https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/.
[3] John P. Dunne et al., Reductions in Labour Capacity from Health Stress under Climate Change, 1 NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE 563 (2013), https://bit.ly/2NMiC3w.
[4] Press Release, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, New NOAA Study Estimates Future Loss of Labor Capacity as Climate Warms (Feb. 25, 2013), https://bit.ly/2yL2zxp.
[5] Tord Kjellstrom et. al., Heat, Human Performance, and Occupational Health: A Key Issue for the Assessment of Global Climate Change Impacts, ANNUAL REVIEWS OF PUBLIC HEALTH, 97-112 (2016) https://bit.ly/2PF4j2g.
[6] Climate Change and Labor: Impacts on Health in the Workplace, United Nations Development Programme (viewed on Oct. 15, 2018), https://bit.ly/2dGd79p.
[7] Sidney Shapiro & Katherine Tracy, Public Law and Climate Disasters Occupational Health and Safety Law (Rosemary Lyster et al. eds., 1st ed., Edward Elgar Pub, 2018), https://amzn.to/2QTBWxJ; U.S. Global Change Research Program, Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II (Nov. 2018), https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/.
[8] Tord Kjellstrom et. al., Heat, Human Performance, and Occupational Health: A Key Issue for the Assessment of Global Climate Change Impacts, ANNUAL REVIEWS OF PUBLIC HEALTH, 97-112 (2016) https://bit.ly/2PF4j2g.
[9] CA has over 14 years of experience with a heat standard, confirming the practicality and effectiveness of such a standard. Its standard resulted in greater compliance by more employers and prevention of heat illness and death among workers in CA. Letter from Public Citizen et. al. to Loren Sweatt, Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, U.S. Department of Labor 17 (July 17, 2018) https://bit.ly/2wjJSzy