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‘New Territory’ for Americans: Deadly Heat in the Workplace [1]

['Coral Davenport', 'Noah Weiland']

Date: 2024-05-25

For more than two years, a group of health experts, economists and lawyers in the U.S. government has worked to address a growing public health crisis: people dying on the job from extreme heat.

In the coming months, this team of roughly 30 people at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to propose a new rule that would require employers to protect an estimated 50 million people exposed to high temperatures while they work. They include farm laborers and construction workers, but also people who sort packages in warehouses, clean airplane cabins and cook in commercial kitchens.

The measure would be the first major federal government regulation to protect Americans from heat on the job. And it is expected to meet stiff resistance from some business and industry groups, which oppose regulations that would, in some cases, require more breaks and access to water, shade and air-conditioning.

But even if the rule takes effect, experts say, the government’s emergency response system is poorly suited to meet the urgency of the moment.

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[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/25/climate/extreme-heat-biden-workplace.html

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