Protecting Workers and Communities

By SETH SANDRONSKY

A warming climate is worsening human life on and off the job. The proof is there for all who choose to see, e.g., wildfires in the American West. Against this backdrop of rising global temperatures from carbon and methane emissions, the Biden administration on Sept. 20 announced it is taking steps to protect communities and workers at-risk of extreme heat conditions.

This initiative joins the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to establish protections for communities and indoor and outdoor workers at-risk of exposure to dangerous temperatures.

This progress did not fall from the sky like the object that struck Chicken Little. Rather, good old-fashion movement politics is the reason.

“When we organize, we win,” said Jessica E. Martinez, co-executive director of National Council on Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH). “The danger to workers from extreme heat due to climate change has been known for some time. Workers, our unions, workers’ centers, National COSH and many partners and allies have been organizing and advocating for real protections for workers for years. Today, the White House is listening to workers—which means we can reduce risk and save lives.”

In a research paper titled Temperature, Workplace Safety, and Labor Market Inequality, R. Jisung Park, University of California and IZA – Institute of Labor Economics, Nora Pankratz, University of California, and A. Patrick Behrer, Stanford University, discovered that about 20,000 additional injuries per year are a result of extreme heat during the 18 years that they researched. “This is roughly 11 times the number of workplace concussions, and at least 19 times the annual number of workplace injuries the worker compensation microdata records as caused by extreme temperatures,” the authors wrote.

Low-paid workers (generally union-free) are more at risk than high-paid workers to suffer from extreme heat. It makes sense that if one works inside in an air-cooled building the labor conditions are healthier versus working in a poorly cooled warehouse.

Unhealthy living and working conditions from extreme heat will not go away anytime soon. Marcy Goldstein-Gelb is also a co-executive director of National COSH.

“Extreme heat will be a fact of life for many years to come,” she said. “Whether your job is indoors or outdoors, all workers need strong protection, so we’re glad to see OSHA begin the process of writing a new standard on heat stress.”

California, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington have safety standards to protect workers from extreme heat, according to National NCOSH. In the other 46 states, workers are on their own, apparently.

“The threat to workers from extreme heat is very real, and it’s happening every day,” said Peter Dooley, health and safety project consultant at National COSH. “It’s important to see that OSHA will take immediate steps — including an enforcement initiative and targeted inspections — that can support workers to demand relief from dangerous, overheated workplaces.”

Safety rules without enforcement are toothless. “States that administer their own workplace safety plans need to take similar action,” said Dooley, “and proceed with enforcement and standards that are at least as strong—if not stronger—than federal requirements.”

On the web, visit coshnetwork.org.

Seth Sandronsky lives and works in Sacramento. He is a journalist and member of the Pacific Media Workers Guild. Email sethsandronsky@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, October 15, 2021

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