Winter might be officially right around the corner, but the need for federal heat regulations is just as important as ever. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, farm workers die from heat-related illness at a rate 20 times greater than the rest of the U.S. civilian workers. Heat deaths are preventable tragedies. The prevention is nothing complicated: shade, cool water, rest, education, and monitoring.
Your voice is needed to protect farm workers and other workers from heat illness. The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has opened public comments on proposed federal heat safety regulations. The newly proposed federal heat safety rule is modeled on existing heat safety standards in California, Oregon, and Washington, all of which were implemented following the deaths of farm workers killed on the job by extreme heat. We know enforcing heat standards saves lives.
The public comment period closes on 12/30/2024, however, it is easy to submit a comment through UFW’s easy tool. Please make sure these OSHA regulations go into effect by posting your comment today in support of these critical regulations.
We encourage you to use this helpful pdf from Solutions for Environmental and Worker Health Justice that takes rigorously researched, peer-reviewed articles about the dangers of heat on worker health, and presents the information in a way that can help you comment on the proposal.
