Let’s Commit to Saving Workers from Heat, Not Killing Them

Workers Memorial Day, on April 28, is a somber annual recognition of deaths, injuries, and illnesses that never should have happened. Despite U.S. health and safety laws, too many working people face daily threats to their earning potential, their health, and their lives. Many of these threats—like extreme heat—are worsening as the climate changes. But instead of stepping up to protect their hardworking constituents from heat, lawmakers in some states are leaping back.

Just five states currently have specific, enforceable occupational heat safeguards, and there are no federal standards. Of the five states, only Oregon protects most of its indoor and outdoor workers all year round—although California may partially catch up later this year. (More on that below.)

This leaves most U.S. workers at risk of potentially deadly heat-related symptoms. Unless, that is, they belong to a union powerful enough to force their employers to change. 

Enter city- or county-level heat protections. In lieu of state or federal action, some localities have done what they can to protect their at-risk workers. The most recent example is Phoenix, which passed an ordinance in March requiring city contractors and subcontractors to give outdoor workers water, rest, shade, air conditioning in vehicles, and heat stress training. 

This kind of independent streak has not amused state lawmakers in Texas and Florida. Both states have passed laws forbidding localities from mandating even the most basic heat protections for workers, including drinking water and first aid measures. Florida school districts are legally required to train high school students in basic first aid. But employers who hire people to put food on our tables? To rebuild our homes after major storms? To deliver our online purchases? No such requirements.

Even California, the first U.S. state to have an outdoor workplace heat standard, is walking back some protections. Heat-vulnerable indoor workers thought they would soon be safer after a years-delayed indoor standard came up for a vote in March. But at the last minute, the California Department of Finance refused to approve the new rules. The department objected to the costs of keeping correctional facility staff and tens of thousands of incarcerated workers safe—thus ignoring the productivity losses and healthcare costs stemming from an overheated workforce. California will now exclude workers at correctional facilities from its main indoor standard. Meanwhile, the state ranks fourth in the nation for the number of “person days” of potentially dangerous heat exposure at correctional facilities. 

The actions by Texas, Florida, and California—and lack of action by most other states—makes it evermore urgent for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a federal standard. OSHA officials publicly reaffirmed last week and on Earth Day the critical importance of the heat rulemaking they started in late 2021. However, they declined to offer a timeline for a formal proposal. 

Emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses skyrocketed in some parts of the country during 2023’s record-high temperatures. While the counts aren’t specific to workers, they remind us that heat is becoming increasingly dangerous for people living and working in the United States. Decisionmakers in industry and government alike should commit to protect workers from the preventable harms of heat, rather than potentially dooming them to the list of workers recognized during 2025’s Workers Memorial Day.