Ashley Siefert Nunes
WASHINGTON—The Biden administration today announced a proposed rule to protect U.S. workers from extreme heat—the deadliest climate impact. This first-ever national heat safety standard would require employers to provide workers with access to shade, water, and rest breaks; create and routinely update emergency response plans; and allow new employees time for heat acclimatization. Under the proposed rule, employers could be fined for violations that subject employees to harmful and possibly deadly conditions during extreme heat. The administration also announced the allocation of $1 billion in grants to enable communities to get out ahead of climate and extreme weather disasters, such as heat, floods, drought and wildfires before they strike.
Below is a statement by Dr. Kristina Dahl, a principal climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Dr. Dahl is a co-author of the peer-reviewed analysis “Too Hot to Work,” and was also named in the 2023 TIME100 Next list, which highlights the emerging leaders shaping the future of science, activism, politics, business and more.
“The proposed rule is the first step towards ensuring widespread protection of U.S. workers from dangerous heat that is expected to become more frequent and severe due to fossil fuel-driven climate change. While a handful of states have adopted their own safeguards for outdoor workers, most lack any such standard and some, including Florida and Texas, have even passed inhumane legislation barring local governments from implementing their own worker safety measures.
“Outdoor jobs bring greater dangers from heat and the 32 million outdoor workers in the United States have up to a 35 times greater risk of dying from heat exposure than the general population. The deaths of U.S. outdoor workers each year are largely preventable if employers are required to meet workers’ basic needs for water, shade and rest. With this rule, the Biden administration has made clear that companies will no longer be allowed to treat the deaths of their workers from heat-related illnesses as one of the many costs of continuing with business as usual in a warming world.
“In addition to getting this lifesaving standard into place, it’s also imperative that policymakers take bold action to address the climate crisis more broadly. We’re living in a world that has already warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius because of decades of dependence on fossil fuels, deception and obstruction by the fossil fuel industry, and insufficient action by policymakers. And this year is slated to be one of the hottest ever recorded. Until we phase out fossil fuels, we can expect our summers to continue getting hotter and more dangerous and deadly.”
If you have any questions or would like to arrange an interview with Dr. Dahl or another UCS expert, please contact UCS Climate and Energy Media Manager Ashley Siefert Nunes. UCS has experts available to discuss the impacts of extreme heat in English and Spanish.
Additional UCS Resources and Analyses:
- The latest blogposts by UCS experts on the 2024 Danger Season.
- A peer-reviewed study by UCS, “Too Hot to Work.” For the interactive mapping tool, click here.
- A peer-reviewed study by UCS, “Killer Heat.” To get the results for a specific city or county, use the online widget. For the interactive mapping tool, click here.
- A UCS report, “US Military on the Frontlines of Extreme Heat.”
- A UCS report, “Farmworkers at Risk.”