Heat rules needed for workers

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom. This editorial was written on behalf of the board by Star Tribune Opinion intern Noor Adwan, a 2023 graduate of the University of Minnesota.

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This summer's heat waves left many across Minnesota desperate for relief as temperatures and humidity soared, producing the second-highest heat index values on record in some areas.

But relief isn't always easy to come by, especially for those who work outdoors. That's why more than 100 members of Congress, including Minnesota Democrats Ilhan Omar, Betty McCollum and Dean Phillips, penned a letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and labor leaders in July imploring them to establish new federal heat standards for workers. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) also supports a nationwide standard.

In their letter, lawmakers requested that the new federal standard be modeled after the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatalities Prevention Act, a proposed bill that would require employers to provide rest breaks, cool rest areas, adequate water, training to address signs of heat illness, and a heat acclimatization plan.

Valdivia, the bill's namesake, died in 2004 after picking grapes for 10 hours straight in 105-degree heat. He was 53. Advocates say his death was preventable — as were those of hundreds of other workers who have died from heat-related causes since then.

But change at the federal level could take ages. According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, issuing new federal safety standards can take between 15 months and 19 years.

"Since it takes so long for an OSHA rule to be developed, the best option for implementing protections in the near term is for states to develop their own rules," Mayra Reiter, project director of occupational safety and health at advocacy group Farmworker Justice, told an editorial writer.

Minnesota already enforces some workplace protections related to temperature. In fact, a Minnesota law that sets guidelines for permissible temperatures in indoor workplaces was cited in the joint letter as a prime example of a proactive, state-level policy to address worker safety in extreme heat. Minnesota employers also have a responsibility to protect their workers from heat stress, according to Minnesota's OSHA.

But the state could be doing more. While Minnesota is one of a few states to have an indoor temperature standard, there is not one for outdoor work. An outdoor heat standard would offer more protections for workers than existing OSHA rules, Reiter said, as a legislative standard would be more enforceable and less open to interpretation by individual employers.

"Every state should have a heat standard to protect outdoor workers," Reiter explained. "The way to ensure that employers are protecting workers is to have a rule in place that gives employers specific mandates about what they need to do to protect their employees."

Without an outdoor heat standard, there is no temperature threshold that triggers the requirement for protective measures for workers. In California, which does have an outdoor heat standard, certain protective measures become mandatory once the temperature reaches 80 degrees Fahrenheit. (In addition, two other states — Oregon and Washington — already have outdoor heat standards, and Colorado has one that applies only to agricultural workers.)

Minnesota, a leader in progressive policy, could continue that tradition by becoming the first state in the Midwest to implement a state-level outdoor heat standard. We must act soon, as our summers are growing hotter due to climate change.

If lawmakers act during the next legislative session, officials at Minnesota's OSHA say they could implement a standard "as quickly as necessary."