It was major news on July 27 when the Biden administration announced that it would ask the Department of Labor (DOL) “to issue the first-ever Hazard Alert for heat, and DOL will also ramp up enforcement to protect workers from extreme heat.”
“The Department of Labor will provide information on what employers can and should be doing now to protect their workers, help ensure employees are aware of their rights, including protections against retaliation,” the White House announcement added.
DOL will also “will ramp up enforcement of heat-safety violations, increasing inspections in high-risk industries like construction and agriculture, while OSHA continues to develop a national standard for workplace heat-safety rules.”
In fact, OSHA announced in October 2021 that it was exploring new heat safety regulations and called for public comments.
Who knows when these new regulations will come. OSHA has been accused of moving at a glacier’s pace in issuing new regulations (over seven years, according to a 2012 report by the Government Accounting Office). https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-12-330 But that is no longer entirely accurate given the increased speed at which glaciers have been melting.
Current OSHA regulations require providing potable water at worksites, 1910.141 – Sanitation. | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov) but not much more.
Recommendations (and they are recommendations only), according to the National Law Review, Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA Workplace Heat Standard (natlawreview.com)
suggest that employers:
“• Provide workers with water, rest, and shade.
“• Allow new or returning workers to gradually increase workloads and take more frequent breaks as they acclimatize or build a tolerance for working in the heat.
“• Plan for emergencies and train workers on prevention.
“• Monitor workers for signs of illness.”
Agriculture, like most industries, tends to resist additional regulations on the grounds of adverse economic impact and so on.
This is of course a natural response: everyone wants to get out of any additional regulations if they can avoid it.
But this discussion takes place in a larger framework, which includes public perceptions and sympathies. A wide swath of the populace has little trust in mainstream agriculture to provide safe food or behave responsibly toward the environment or its own employees.
Many of these perceptions are false, but not all. And agricultural interests are often remarkably blind to the implications of their own responses. Implying that heat is no big deal is not a good one.
Whatever you do in response to heat regulations, I suggest avoiding the example of one Steve Hensley, senior scientist for regulatory and environmental issues for the National Cotton Council, in his response to OSHA’s request for comments:
“OSHA must also understand that many heat-related issues are not the result of agricultural work or employer mismanagement, but instead result from the modern employee lifestyle in an advanced 21st century global economy. Present-day luxuries such as air-conditioning is present in most all American households and public facilities making it more difficult to face the severe change in temperatures to move from a cool dwelling or vehicle to the heat of a field. While age certainly plays a part, you can find many farmers that have discovered that younger workers, who are used to a more sedentary lifestyle, cannot last a day working outside.”
It’s probably not a good idea to convey to the public your belief that farmworkers are a bunch of pampered babies.
