Extreme heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States. Outdoor work and warehouse work can be especially dangerous: every day, workers put their lives at risk to make a living for their families and provide our food, mail, and other essential goods and services.
Currently, there’s no federal standard from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that protects workers from heat stress hazards—and this needs to change.
Tell OSHA: Protect Workers From Extreme Heat
OSHA has proposed a new standard that would protect workers from heat injury and illness. These protections would apply to all work settings where OSHA has jurisdiction and would require employers to create a plan to evaluate and manage heat hazards in their workplaces.
The new standards would not only protect outdoor and warehouse workers. They would provide safeguards for Black and Latino workers who are disproportionately represented in the outdoor workforce. Pregnant workers, older workers, and workers with certain preexisting health conditions also face elevated risk from extreme heat and would benefit from the new standard.
OSHA’s proposed new standard is an important step in the right direction.
Join Moms in telling OSHA that we strongly support worker protections from dangerous heat and we want them to move as quickly as possible to finalize a rule that will keep workers safe.