U$A
Extreme heat is holding the economy back. Don't expect federal legislation to help any time soon.
Biden announced plans to protect workers last week with more enforcement of heat-safety violations.
But this kind of legislation takes years to implement, and some states have even reversed similar laws.
Millions of workers in the US have been struggling to do their jobs as the nation experiences a fierce heat wave — and new legislation may not be coming anytime soon.
Though the Biden administration has proposed federal protections, none have been finalized. This is partly due to opposition to similar proposals over the last few years from business lobbyists including construction and agriculture groups at the federal and state levels. Some argued in statements over the last two years that employers are already practicing fair labor standards and could be stretched thin if workers are allowed to take more time off.
Marc Freedman, vice president of employment policy at the United States Chamber of Commerce, told The New York Times, "I don't think anyone is dismissing the hazard of overexposure to heat," though he asked, "Is an OSHA standard the right way to do it? A lot of employers are already taking measures, and the question will be, what more do they have to do?"
Algernon Austin, director for race and economic justice at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told Insider his reading of the situation "is that companies are focused on short-term, quarterly profits." He added that if companies "reduce the number of hours that workers are working because of extreme heat, then they're going to have lower output, and if they have lower output, then they're going to have lower sales and lower profits."
Research shows heat-related productivity losses are holding the economy back, as employees are working fewer hours and working at slower rates.
Last week, President Joe Biden announced new plans to protect workers from extreme heat, including directing the Labor Department to issue a Hazard Alert and better enforce heat-safety violations and inspections at agriculture and construction sites. As part of these plans, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration committed to invest as much as $7 million to improve the detail and accuracy of weather forecasts. In California, Colorado, and Washington, the Department of the Interior is investing $152 million on climate resilience and water storage efforts.
More than 50 Democratic and independent lawmakers introduced a bill in the House and Senate last week that would push the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop interim heat safety standards.
"The number 1 weather-related killer is heat. Six hundred people die annually from its effects — more than from floods, hurricanes and tornadoes in America combined," Biden said last week.
While OSHA has been working to create a national standard for workplace heat-safety rules, that process often takes years — and sometimes decades — to finalize. OSHA, which has recently increased its heat-related inspections, began developing heat standards in 2021, though some regulatory experts believe OSHA is still over two years away from putting into place a final plan.
Some Democrats have considered these plans modest, as 112 Democratic Congressmen called on the Biden administration to develop heat safety regulations for indoor and outdoor workplaces, which include protections such as water, rest breaks, and medical trainings.
"These heat waves are dangerous, they are life-threatening, and – with the devastating effects of climate change – they are only getting worse," Senator Bernie Sanders, who signed the letter, said in a statement. "I urge the administration to move quickly to create this national heat standard to protect workers on the job.
Still, with no federal regulations that protect workers in hot conditions, many workers are left to decide whether to continue subjecting themselves to extreme heat to make ends meet or reduce their hours to stay safe. Some companies have already provided more resources to employees such as cold water or new uniforms, though without nationwide regulations for water breaks or reduced hours, some workers have no choice but to brave the high temperatures.
States haven't made much progress on protecting workers, and some have even rolled back heat safety standards
Only a handful of states have passed heat-related labor protections, a perhaps surprising statistic given that in 2020, heat exposure cost the US economy around $100 billion from loss of productivity. This value is expected to grow to $500 billion by 2050. Last year, business groups sued Oregon over extreme heat worker protection rules, arguing the state overstepped its statutory authority in requiring employers to pay workers during breaks.
Texas, which has recently rolled back some legislation mandating water breaks, contributes to nearly a third of the nation's labor productivity losses, or around $30 billion.
In states including California, Michigan, and Georgia, Amazon workers have gone on strike over the company's labor practices, partly in response to complaints about heat exposure and lack of air conditioning in delivery vans. Around 340,000 UPS workers went on strike in part because of extreme heat — between 2015 and 2022, at least 143 UPS employees were hospitalized for heat-related issues, according to the company's Occupational Safety and Health Administration records. UPS agreed to install air conditioning in most delivery vehicles in June.
This all comes after years of proposals for workplace safety rules, such as a "national emphasis program" for heat inspections and "unprogrammed inspections" by OSHA. The Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatalities Prevention Act of 2022 called for "a standard that requires employers to implement certain measures for protecting workers from heat stress and related illnesses or injuries," though Congress never took it up.
After the OSHA announcement in 2021, some powerful lobbyist groups spoke out against the proposed changes.
"As OSHA moves forward with this process, it is imperative that OSHA avoids placing duplicative or overly burdensome regulations on our nation's producers," wrote the American Farm Bureau Federation in comments after the announcement. The AFBF added that "variances in agricultural work and climate" could make it difficult for OSHA to create solutions without imposing "onerous burdens on farmers and ranchers that will lead to economic losses."
The National Demolition Association responded that "issues of heat exposure and the means to address it on the variety of construction worksites across the country are extremely complex," adding that defining what "excessive heat" means "depends upon personal characteristics."
However, some experts believe that investments to protect workers, such as rearranging shifts or changing uniform colors, pay off since workers can be more productive in the longer run.
"The business community really needs to recognize that this is a real problem that you can't hide behind, that you absolutely have to address," Austin said. "You might as well start addressing it now rather than putting it off until you're forced to."
The Labor Department only fines businesses on average $8,500 when a worker dies from a heat-related illness
Some state-level fines are closer to $20,000, but these are still low penalties for loss of life, one expert says.
Some heat-related deaths in the United States resulted in no penalties at all.
As record-setting heat consumes parts of the United States this summer, people who work outdoors are facing serious threats to their lives.
Heat-related illness and death were already becoming more common among workers in the United States. The three-year average of heat-related worker deaths has doubled since 1990, a 2021 report from NPR and Columbia Journalism Investigations revealed.
And with the death of US Postal Service carrier Eugene Gates Jr. last month in Dallas on a day when the heat index reached 115 degrees Fahrenheit, many workers and their families are on edge. A 46-year-old construction worker named Felipe Pascual also died in June in Houston from heat stroke.
Businesses must stop placing profit and efficiency over worker safety, said Richard Gleason, an associate teaching professor on workplace safety and occupational health at the University of Washington, especially in excessive heat.
"There has got to be some extra emphasis on responsibility and liability," he said.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, meanwhile, is not adding much punitive incentive for companies to do more to protect workers in the heat. According to federal data reported between 2017 and 2022, the Department of Labor fines businesses governed by federal OSHA regulations an average of just $8,539.98 if an employee dies because of heat-related illness. These fines are for the workplace hazards — for example, insufficient water breaks — that caused the fatality.
Several individual penalties were as low as $2,000, according to Gleason.
"$2,000 — come on, that's crazy," Gleason told Insider. "And that's typical for federal OSHA."
There are 22 states that have state-run OSHA plans that govern both public and private employees. State OSHA plans tend to be more proactive when creating workplace safety rules and have more inspectors who can monitor conditions, Gleason said.
"They have to be at least as strict as [federal] OSHA, but they can be better and safer," Gleason said.
Some incidents in states governed by federal regulations — such as an unnamed employee who died of heat exhaustion while working with a coke oven in West Virginia — resulted in no fines at all. The lowest non-zero fine came out of Wisconsin in 2022: The federal office required a business to pay just $1,000 for the heat-related death of 37-year-old Thomas Linkous, a construction worker who died of heat stroke. The case is still open as of July 15, so the company — Farrell Quality Carpentry Inc. — can still appeal that penalty, meaning it may end up even lower.
"The codes and penalties are very small," Gleason said.
The average fine for states with the strictest state-level OSHA penalties — like California, Washington, and Oregon — tends to be closer to $20,000, according to Gleason. But, Gleason said, "Even $20,000 is pretty low when you think about it."
Gleason also noted that federal OSHA fines for worker deaths are significantly smaller than that of other federal agencies.
"The average Environmental Protection Agency penalty is 10 times that of federal OSHA for a worker that dies," Gleason said. "It's pretty weird, if you ask me."
One major barrier to progress includes the slow pace at which the federal OSHA office can change its policies, Gleason said. He estimated it would take 10 years to update its heat-related safety guidelines, while states can do so far more quickly — within a single legislative session, even.
"The states can be a little more efficient, they can change their own rules," Gleason said.
The Department of Labor declined to comment on the record for this story.
INSIDER
Aug 4, 2023
Aug 4, 2023
David McNew/Getty Images
There are no federal regulations protecting workers in extreme heat.
There are no federal regulations protecting workers in extreme heat.
Biden announced plans to protect workers last week with more enforcement of heat-safety violations.
But this kind of legislation takes years to implement, and some states have even reversed similar laws.
Millions of workers in the US have been struggling to do their jobs as the nation experiences a fierce heat wave — and new legislation may not be coming anytime soon.
Though the Biden administration has proposed federal protections, none have been finalized. This is partly due to opposition to similar proposals over the last few years from business lobbyists including construction and agriculture groups at the federal and state levels. Some argued in statements over the last two years that employers are already practicing fair labor standards and could be stretched thin if workers are allowed to take more time off.
Marc Freedman, vice president of employment policy at the United States Chamber of Commerce, told The New York Times, "I don't think anyone is dismissing the hazard of overexposure to heat," though he asked, "Is an OSHA standard the right way to do it? A lot of employers are already taking measures, and the question will be, what more do they have to do?"
Algernon Austin, director for race and economic justice at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told Insider his reading of the situation "is that companies are focused on short-term, quarterly profits." He added that if companies "reduce the number of hours that workers are working because of extreme heat, then they're going to have lower output, and if they have lower output, then they're going to have lower sales and lower profits."
Research shows heat-related productivity losses are holding the economy back, as employees are working fewer hours and working at slower rates.
Last week, President Joe Biden announced new plans to protect workers from extreme heat, including directing the Labor Department to issue a Hazard Alert and better enforce heat-safety violations and inspections at agriculture and construction sites. As part of these plans, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration committed to invest as much as $7 million to improve the detail and accuracy of weather forecasts. In California, Colorado, and Washington, the Department of the Interior is investing $152 million on climate resilience and water storage efforts.
More than 50 Democratic and independent lawmakers introduced a bill in the House and Senate last week that would push the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop interim heat safety standards.
"The number 1 weather-related killer is heat. Six hundred people die annually from its effects — more than from floods, hurricanes and tornadoes in America combined," Biden said last week.
While OSHA has been working to create a national standard for workplace heat-safety rules, that process often takes years — and sometimes decades — to finalize. OSHA, which has recently increased its heat-related inspections, began developing heat standards in 2021, though some regulatory experts believe OSHA is still over two years away from putting into place a final plan.
Some Democrats have considered these plans modest, as 112 Democratic Congressmen called on the Biden administration to develop heat safety regulations for indoor and outdoor workplaces, which include protections such as water, rest breaks, and medical trainings.
"These heat waves are dangerous, they are life-threatening, and – with the devastating effects of climate change – they are only getting worse," Senator Bernie Sanders, who signed the letter, said in a statement. "I urge the administration to move quickly to create this national heat standard to protect workers on the job.
Still, with no federal regulations that protect workers in hot conditions, many workers are left to decide whether to continue subjecting themselves to extreme heat to make ends meet or reduce their hours to stay safe. Some companies have already provided more resources to employees such as cold water or new uniforms, though without nationwide regulations for water breaks or reduced hours, some workers have no choice but to brave the high temperatures.
States haven't made much progress on protecting workers, and some have even rolled back heat safety standards
Only a handful of states have passed heat-related labor protections, a perhaps surprising statistic given that in 2020, heat exposure cost the US economy around $100 billion from loss of productivity. This value is expected to grow to $500 billion by 2050. Last year, business groups sued Oregon over extreme heat worker protection rules, arguing the state overstepped its statutory authority in requiring employers to pay workers during breaks.
Texas, which has recently rolled back some legislation mandating water breaks, contributes to nearly a third of the nation's labor productivity losses, or around $30 billion.
In states including California, Michigan, and Georgia, Amazon workers have gone on strike over the company's labor practices, partly in response to complaints about heat exposure and lack of air conditioning in delivery vans. Around 340,000 UPS workers went on strike in part because of extreme heat — between 2015 and 2022, at least 143 UPS employees were hospitalized for heat-related issues, according to the company's Occupational Safety and Health Administration records. UPS agreed to install air conditioning in most delivery vehicles in June.
This all comes after years of proposals for workplace safety rules, such as a "national emphasis program" for heat inspections and "unprogrammed inspections" by OSHA. The Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatalities Prevention Act of 2022 called for "a standard that requires employers to implement certain measures for protecting workers from heat stress and related illnesses or injuries," though Congress never took it up.
After the OSHA announcement in 2021, some powerful lobbyist groups spoke out against the proposed changes.
"As OSHA moves forward with this process, it is imperative that OSHA avoids placing duplicative or overly burdensome regulations on our nation's producers," wrote the American Farm Bureau Federation in comments after the announcement. The AFBF added that "variances in agricultural work and climate" could make it difficult for OSHA to create solutions without imposing "onerous burdens on farmers and ranchers that will lead to economic losses."
The National Demolition Association responded that "issues of heat exposure and the means to address it on the variety of construction worksites across the country are extremely complex," adding that defining what "excessive heat" means "depends upon personal characteristics."
However, some experts believe that investments to protect workers, such as rearranging shifts or changing uniform colors, pay off since workers can be more productive in the longer run.
"The business community really needs to recognize that this is a real problem that you can't hide behind, that you absolutely have to address," Austin said. "You might as well start addressing it now rather than putting it off until you're forced to."
The Labor Department only fines businesses on average $8,500 when a worker dies from a heat-related illness
The Department of Labor fines businesses an average of $8,539.98 for the heat-related death of an employee.
Andrew Kelly/Reuters
The average federal fine for a US employer, when a worker dies from heat-related illness, is $8,539.98.
The average federal fine for a US employer, when a worker dies from heat-related illness, is $8,539.98.
Some state-level fines are closer to $20,000, but these are still low penalties for loss of life, one expert says.
Some heat-related deaths in the United States resulted in no penalties at all.
As record-setting heat consumes parts of the United States this summer, people who work outdoors are facing serious threats to their lives.
Heat-related illness and death were already becoming more common among workers in the United States. The three-year average of heat-related worker deaths has doubled since 1990, a 2021 report from NPR and Columbia Journalism Investigations revealed.
And with the death of US Postal Service carrier Eugene Gates Jr. last month in Dallas on a day when the heat index reached 115 degrees Fahrenheit, many workers and their families are on edge. A 46-year-old construction worker named Felipe Pascual also died in June in Houston from heat stroke.
Businesses must stop placing profit and efficiency over worker safety, said Richard Gleason, an associate teaching professor on workplace safety and occupational health at the University of Washington, especially in excessive heat.
"There has got to be some extra emphasis on responsibility and liability," he said.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, meanwhile, is not adding much punitive incentive for companies to do more to protect workers in the heat. According to federal data reported between 2017 and 2022, the Department of Labor fines businesses governed by federal OSHA regulations an average of just $8,539.98 if an employee dies because of heat-related illness. These fines are for the workplace hazards — for example, insufficient water breaks — that caused the fatality.
Several individual penalties were as low as $2,000, according to Gleason.
"$2,000 — come on, that's crazy," Gleason told Insider. "And that's typical for federal OSHA."
There are 22 states that have state-run OSHA plans that govern both public and private employees. State OSHA plans tend to be more proactive when creating workplace safety rules and have more inspectors who can monitor conditions, Gleason said.
"They have to be at least as strict as [federal] OSHA, but they can be better and safer," Gleason said.
Some incidents in states governed by federal regulations — such as an unnamed employee who died of heat exhaustion while working with a coke oven in West Virginia — resulted in no fines at all. The lowest non-zero fine came out of Wisconsin in 2022: The federal office required a business to pay just $1,000 for the heat-related death of 37-year-old Thomas Linkous, a construction worker who died of heat stroke. The case is still open as of July 15, so the company — Farrell Quality Carpentry Inc. — can still appeal that penalty, meaning it may end up even lower.
"The codes and penalties are very small," Gleason said.
The average fine for states with the strictest state-level OSHA penalties — like California, Washington, and Oregon — tends to be closer to $20,000, according to Gleason. But, Gleason said, "Even $20,000 is pretty low when you think about it."
Gleason also noted that federal OSHA fines for worker deaths are significantly smaller than that of other federal agencies.
"The average Environmental Protection Agency penalty is 10 times that of federal OSHA for a worker that dies," Gleason said. "It's pretty weird, if you ask me."
One major barrier to progress includes the slow pace at which the federal OSHA office can change its policies, Gleason said. He estimated it would take 10 years to update its heat-related safety guidelines, while states can do so far more quickly — within a single legislative session, even.
"The states can be a little more efficient, they can change their own rules," Gleason said.
The Department of Labor declined to comment on the record for this story.
No comments:
Post a Comment