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Many states decline to require water breaks for outdoor workers in extreme heat

Nearly 400 U.S. workers died of heat exposure over a decade.

BY: BARBARA BARRETT - JUNE 20, 2023 5:00 AM

Even as summer temperatures soar and states wrangle with protecting outdoor workers from extreme heat, Texas last week enacted a law that axes city rules mandating water and shade breaks for construction workers. ... In state after state, lawmakers and regulators have in recent years declined to require companies to offer their outdoor laborers rest breaks with shade and water. In some cases, legislation failed to gain traction. In others, state regulators decided against action or have taken years to write and release rules.

Heat causes more deaths in the United States each year than any other extreme weather. And in Texas, at least 42 workers died of heat exposure between 2011 and 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, though labor advocates say the number is much higher because other causes are cited in many deaths. ... A 2021 investigation by NPR and Columbia Journalism Investigations found nearly 400 workers had died of environmental heat exposure in the previous decade, with Hispanic workers — who make up much of the nation’s farm and construction workforce — disproportionately affected.

Climate change has brought more days of extreme heat each year on average, and scientists say that number will grow. Yet only three states — California, Oregon and Washington — require heat breaks for outdoor workers. Minnesota has a rule that sets standards for indoor workers, and Colorado’s heat regulations cover only farmworkers.

The new law in Texas, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott last week, nullifies a slew of local ordinances in an ongoing battle between the conservative legislature and left-leaning cities such as Austin and Houston. The law, touted as pro-business by supporters, strips local authority in eight codes of law: agriculture, business and commerce, finance, insurance, labor, natural resources, occupations and property. Affected ordinances include rules on matters such as tenant evictions and wage practices. ... But one of the law’s most significant actions is to nullify ordinances in Austin and Dallas that mandated 10-minute breaks every four hours for construction workers to get water and shade. San Antonio had been considering a similar ordinance; now no city may impose such a rule.

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