Protect Workers from Extreme Heat, September-October 2024
- rabinelliott
- Sep 13, 2024
- 3 min read
Take Action
Record-breaking temperatures from climate change have increased the health risks people face on-the-job, especially in summer months. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing the Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings rule (the Heat Rule), a federal safety standard that would protect workers from heat injury and illness in the workplace. Submit a formal comment in support of the OSHA Heat Rule (Docket No. OSHA-2021-0009.) The comment period is open until December 30, 2024.
Background
2024 is projected to be the hottest year ever, as a result of fossil fuel pollution, which is causing global temperatures to rise. Every year, dozens of workers die and thousands more suffer illnesses related to hazardous heat exposure that are most often preventable. Hispanic, Black, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander workers; lower-income workers; and noncitizen immigrants are at particular risk in that they are disproportionately exposed to hazardous working conditions, including extreme heat.
Why Now?
Under the current system, it practically takes a worker becoming ill, or dying of extreme heat, for OSHA to take action. Right now, a new Heat Rule is undergoing a comment period before it is finalized. This rule would be preventative rather than reactive. Among other things, the Heat Rule would require employers to evaluate heat risks and implement requirements for drinking water, rest breaks and control of indoor heat. Employers would also be required to provide training, have procedures to respond if a worker is experiencing signs and symptoms of a heat-related illness, and take immediate action to help a worker experiencing signs and symptoms of a heat emergency.
Jewish Perspectives
The Torah teaches that a rich man who has loaned money to a poor person and takes his cloak as collateral must not keep the coat overnight (Deuteronomy 24:13-15.) The coat may be the only protection the indebted person has to protect themselves from the frigid cold of a desert night. Kal v’homer*, excessive heat can overcome a person faster than cold and therefore, protection for employees from extreme heat should be pursued with as much if not greater even more diligence than cold, which can be ameliorated with added layers. The Talmud Bava Metzia 107b:2-4 concludes: “All occurrences that befall man are at the hands of Heaven, except for excess cold and heat.” Protecting people from this particular danger is up to us.
*The halachic (legal) concept of kal v‘homer, “all the more so,” stipulates that a ruling on a less strict occurrence certainly should apply to a more strict and dangerous occurrence.
Learn more
Proposed Rule Fact Sheet Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings, OSHA
Too Hot to Work, Union of Concerned Scientists
Extreme Heat Is More Dangerous for Workers Every Year, American Progress
Sample Comment
As a Jew, I believe that people must look out for others’ welfare, which includes employers protecting their employees from danger.
Tens of millions of indoor and outdoor workers, disproportionately those of color, are experiencing firsthand the devastating impacts of climate change in the form of extreme heat.
I urge you to quickly finalize the Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) rule, which would protect approximately 36 million workers from dangerous heat conditions fueled by climate change.
How to Submit Your Comment on the Proposed Heat Rule
Submit your comment in support of finalizing the OSHA Heat Rule at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/30/2024-14824/heat-injury-and-illness-prevention-in-outdoor-and-indoor-work-settings
