Will Texas Workers Ever Get a Break from the Summer Heat?

On April Annie Fierro of the Workers Defense Action Fund arrived at a state House committee hearing in Austin to advocacy a bill that sought to prevent workplace heat-related illnesses and deaths Fierro chose to share written testimony from Ignacio a Houston member of Workers Defense who she disclosed was unable to get time off to attend the hearing For over years she explained Ignacio had worked as a finisher for construction projects Laboring inside un-airconditioned buildings filled with chemical vapors and little ventilation in Texas scorching summers is a regular part of his job Then in March he was hospitalized with kidney failure that he attributes to working without sufficient breaks or water through Texas sweltering heat He now receives dialysis hours a week After his employer learned about his condition his pay was docked and he s still not given time for water breaks I am just one of the thousands of Texas workers that suffer poor and unsafe conditions on the job Fierro read But in the end the proposed provision died part of yet another unsuccessful effort to bolster protections for workers in increasing heat Republican lawmakers in Texas have long rejected decree meant to prevent work-related heat illnesses and deaths During the record-breaking summer heat wave of Governor Greg Abbott also signed into law the so-called Death Star bill banning countless local ordinances including those passed in Austin and Dallas that mandated rest breaks for construction workers The law was ruled unconstitutional by a lower state court and remains tied up in appeals That year the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS shared that Texans died from workplace heat exposure though BLS statistics undercount heat deaths in particular Worker advocates had hoped relief would come from the Biden administration Since October federal leaders have been evolving a new Occupational Safety and Robustness Administration OSHA rule that would specifically require employers to protect workers from heat exposure The proposed heat rule would require employers to have a heat acclimatization plan and provide workers a rest break every two hours if the heat index exceeds degrees It was published last August and the populace comment period closed in January A virtual hearing open to anyone is set for June That hearing is considered a milestone for workplace robustness and safety given that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Wellness NIOSH a federal agency that researches and recommends worker wellness and safety protections first recommended a heat rule more than fifty years ago But it is unclear how the Trump administration will now proceed Without a federal heat safety rule workers who complain to OSHA about being forced to work with insufficient water and breaks in increasingly high temperatures must rely on a catch-all section of statute called the general duty clause which broadly requires employers to maintain workplaces without recognized hazards But fines and sanctions based on the general duty clause are more vulnerable to administrative and legal challenges from employers even after regime inspectors document problems in investigations of heat-related deaths Having a specific standard for preventing heat illnesses and deaths would give employers clearer guidance and strengthen OSHA s enforcement ability experts say From to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS informed that workers in the United States died from heat exposure while nearly suffered heat-related illnesses or injuries on the job OSHA has stated that these numbers are likely vast underestimates The nonprofit Inhabitants Citizen has estimated that up to deaths and injuries occur annually from workplace heat exposure Texas leads the nation in workplace fatalities and illnesses including those from heat exposure according to the BLS details For far too long Texas workers have been forced to work through extreme heat at times even losing their lives reported U S Representative Greg Casar who has been pushing for workplace protections from the heat for more than a decade The basic rights of all workers and lives are at stake But even after the June hearing there will be a long way to go for OSHA to finalize the new rule According to a congressional document it typically takes OSHA to years to issue a new standard Barab predicted that one of two things may happen under the Trump administration Even if they want to they may not have the support or the staff to finish up a standard in the next three years he reported or They could try to issue a very weak standard that would basically look like they were doing something that really wouldn t have any teeth in it The administration could also move to kill the standard altogether though Barab announced that to do so There are a number of lengthy initiatives they need to go through assuming they will truly comply with the law So they may prefer to let it wither Already the Trump administration has cut federal employees who oversee standards for workers robustness and safety In April more than percent of the NIOSH workforce was fired On May specific were reinstated though the agency remains gutted The administration is also terminating leases for OSHA offices including the one in Houston home to plenty of of the nation s largest oil and gas companies While OSHA executives continue to conduct inspections Barab informed the Observer that Trump has cut percent of its workforce and more layoffs could be coming We re not quite sure what s in the cards in terms of downsizing and reorganization of OSHA As part of a wider push to wipe out workplace environmental financial and other regulations years in the making Trump also issued an executive order in mid-April entitled Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation which requires regulations to be repealed for every new one added That means an OSHA heat rule could require the undoing of other workplace protections In February Trump tapped David Keeling a former executive for Amazon and UPS to lead OSHA On April The Lever revealed that during the time Keeling served as vice president of global physical condition and safety at UPS from to and as the director of road and transportation safety at Amazon from to OSHA fined those businesses million for more than workplace safety citations Keeling has not yet been certified by the U S Senate and did not reply to an interview request for this story A spokesperson for the U S Department of Labor communicated the Observer Given that Mr Keeling is going through the nomination process we are unable to comment on his prospective leadership at OSHA No Republican administration has issued a major OSHA standard since the George H W Bush administration except when ordered to do so by the courts Barab described the Observer A few Texas businesses already are lobbying against OSHA s proposed heat rule and have filed comments arguing that OSHA-mandated rest breaks are unnecessary even in extreme heat The Associated Builders and Contractors criticized the proposed rule s one size fits all approach and stated Heat triggers should be determined by the contractor and those deemed competent persons in the field Jay Bragg an associate director with the Texas Farm Bureau wrote that already Farm workers are generally encouraged to take breaks as needed A letter from the Texas International Produce Association stated Workers in Texas are acclimated to these conditions and have developed the threshold and skill-sets to work effectively under these temperatures But David Chincanchan the program director for Texas s Workers Defense Action Fund argues that those kinds of comments do not reflect workers experiences There will unfailingly be employers who refuse to do the right thing unless they are required Chincanchan noted The Observer previously communicated how Antelmo Ramirez a -year-old father grandfather and husband died in from hyperthermia while working at the Tesla Gigafactory construction site near Austin In another story the Observer revealed how the U S Postal Organization USPS falsified heat illness prevention training records including that of Eugene Gates a Dallas postal worker who died in while lugging mail in -degree weather In an interview Homer Hernandez a San Antonio postal worker and a legislative chair of the National Association of Letter Carriers narrated the Observer that the greater part Texas mail carriers are still driving un-airconditioned trucks though USPS promised last October to provide more vehicles with air conditioning In the meantime Texas workers like Ignacio whose story was shared with legislators in April face increasing risks as temperatures continue to climb A record-breaking heat wave swept Texas in May with temperatures exceeding degrees in a great number of cities The Surroundings Prediction Center forecasts above average temperatures statewide this summer John Nielsen-Gammon director of the Southern Regional Setting Center and Texas State Climatologist advised that workers exposed to the heat must take frequent breaks and drink plenty of water to prevent illnesses Each person should be monitoring their own features Gammon stated This includes dizziness headaches nausea and cramps which when left untreated can lead to a breakdown of organs then death But until there are more protections in place multiple workers like Ignacio say they must continue to endanger their strength to make ends meet When my employer learned about my situation he started to treat me differently because of my fitness problems He paid me less He didn t allow me to take even short breaks to drink water and cool down my body read Fierro Workers like me who do their work honorably deserve to be treated with dignity and respect The post Will Texas Workers Ever Get a Break from the Summer Heat appeared first on The Texas Observer