Today WorkLife Law submitted comments to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on the agency’s proposed rule, “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings.” Our comments were informed by our legal helpline which has provided direct assistance to scores of employees requesting accommodation and challenging denials, including those related to heat exposure in the workplace.
WorkLife Law is eager to see the proposed Rule enacted in part because of the significant impact it will have on the health of pregnant workers. Heat is of particular concern for pregnant workers as pregnancy makes a person more likely to experience heat illness. There is strong evidence that heat can lead to adverse birth outcomes, such as increased risk of birth defects, preterm labor, stillbirth, and fetal distress. And studies have shown that in the second trimester, “for each additional day a pregnant person spends in extreme heat…the odds of hospitalization increase by almost 5 percent.”
Adequate protection from excessive heat in the workplace is critical to safeguard the health of our workforce. The proposed standard would make workplaces safer and improve workers’ ability to do their jobs in hot conditions. While WorkLife Law applauds the significant impact of the proposed heat rule, we also urge the Department of Labor to implement additional guidance ensuring that workers can access the changes they need to stay safe. While extreme heat impacts all workers, it disproportionately affects low-income individuals, people of color, and pregnant women. These workers are less likely to be able to access their rights and must rely on clear and enforceable employer mandates to stay safe. We thank OSHA for considering our suggestions to strengthen the standard by requiring employers to provide periodic cooling breaks at 80 degrees and applying the standards to more strongly cover workers in a wider variety of positions.