Ashley Siefert Nunes
WASHINGTON—Asunción Valdivia was only 53 years old when he died of heat stroke after working a 10-hour shift picking grapes in 105-degree temperatures. Yesterday, Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Judy Chu reintroduced the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury and Fatality Prevention Act, bicameral legislation that aims to keep workers safe as temperatures rise due to climate change. The bill is supported by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS); the United Farm Workers; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; United Steelworkers; and hundreds of other organizations.
Heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths, yet the United States currently has no national heat stress standards in place to protect workers during extremely hot days. Likewise, only eight states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and Washington—have issued some form of heat-related protections for workers. Although extreme heat affects a wide range of occupations, construction workers are considered among those most at risk, as are farmworkers, who also face toxic pesticide exposure on the job. Additionally, Black and Latinx workers are represented at greater rates in outdoor occupations, which places them disproportionately at risk.
This legislation would direct the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to create a standard aimed at reducing workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities due to excessive heat. Safety measures highlighted in the bill include regular paid breaks in cool or shaded environments, access to water, emergency response protocols for employees suffering from heat illness, proper training for employers and employees on heat stress illness and prevention, and access to protective clothing.
Below is a statement by Shana Udvardy, a senior climate resilience policy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) on this reintroduced legislation.
“According to UCS research, climate change is projected to quadruple U.S. outdoor workers’ exposure to hazardous heat conditions between now and midcentury if policymakers fail to make strides in sharply reducing global warming emissions. And without a federal heat standard in place the country’s 32 million outdoor workers will be faced with a cruel choice each Danger Season: their health or their jobs. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We hope this legislation offering commonsense protections will help prevent deaths and heat-related illness amongst farmers, construction workers, first responders and other U.S. outdoor workers.”
This summer, as temperatures climb, the Trump administration is cutting staff and funds for vital agencies, such as NOAA, making it even more challenging to keep people safe during weather extremes like heat waves. The Trump administration’s firings of heat experts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and at the National Integrated Heat Health Information System will further undermine the government’s ability to address extreme heat nationwide as the summer heat season continues.
Additional Resources:
- A UCS blog post titled “Heatwave Exposes How Trump Administration Cuts Endanger Workers and Energy-Burdened Communities.”
- UCS Danger Season Tracker and Danger Season related blog posts.
- A peer-reviewed study by UCS titled “Too Hot to Work: Assessing the Threats Climate Change Poses to Outdoor Workers.” For the interactive mapping tool, click here.
- A peer-reviewed study by UCS titled “Killer Heat: Climate Choices and the Future of Dangerously Hot Days.” To get the results for a specific city or county, use the online widget. For the interactive mapping tool, click here.
- A UCS report titled “U.S. Military on the Frontlines of Extreme Heat.”
- A UCS report titled “Farmworkers at Risk: The Growing Dangers of Pesticides and Heat.”
- A UCS report titled “Keeping Everyone’s Lights On: How to Build an Equitable, Climate-Resilient Power Grid.”