Heat advisory issued by National Weather Service on Aug. 1, 2024, via NWS
Most of Central and Southwest Florida was under a heat advisory on Thursday between noon and 6 p.m., meaning widespread heat indices between 108 to 112 degrees were expected. While most Floridians can stay inside and be cooled by air conditioning, nearly half-a-million Sunshine State residents work in outdoor jobs and have to rely on the goodness of their employer to protect them from the searing summer heat.
Tampa Bay area Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor hopes the federal government will act soon to provide some of those heat protections. Castor held a news conference Thursday to again urge the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to finalize a proposed rule that would provide national protections to more than 35 million workers in both indoor and outdoor settings and likely reduce heat injuries, illnesses, and deaths in the workplace.
“They [OSHA and the U.S. Department of Labor] announced last month that they intend to do this; we’re waiting for them to get that proposed rule out so that it can be adopted,” Castor said outside a Tampa Family Health Center in East Tampa. “It couldn’t be any more important in this day and age, as these brutally hot days just weigh on our families and weigh on our workers.”
The proposed rule would require employers to develop injury and illness prevention plans in workplaces affected by excessive heat. Employers would evaluate heat risks and — when workers are in danger — provide drinking water, rest breaks, and control of indoor heat. They also would need to accommodate new or returning workers unaccustomed to working in high heat.
In many ways, it’s similar to a proposal that farmworker advocates spent months working on with the Miami-Dade County Commission last year that, if enacted, would have created the first local ordinance in the state providing heat protections for outdoor workers.
However, due to intense lobbying by industry interests, the proposed ordinance was first watered down then delayed after a bill was proposed in the Florida Legislature to preempt such local laws. That measure cleared the Legislature, was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April, and went into effect last month.
Florida has the highest number of heat-related illnesses in the United States, with more than 31,000 emergency room visits and hospitalizations due to the heat tbetween 2018 and 2022, according to a report by the Florida Policy Institute. The study found that in 20 Florida counties, more than one-third of residents were vulnerable to extreme heat. Nationally, heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths, killing more than 200 people last year.
Danger hours
Dr. Ashley McPhie, chief medical information officer with Tampa Family Health Centers, advised that members of the public stay indoors if they can between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun is at its brightest. She urged people who have to be outside to wear sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30, wear light clothing, and drink water every 15 minutes.
Ernesto Ruiz, research coordinator with the Farmworker Association of Florida, told reporters there are two “contextual realities” that make farmworkers extremely vulnerable to illness or injury while working in intense heat.
One is that they are paid by how much they produce on a “piece rate” basis. “This strongly, strongly, disincentivizes our workers to take breaks,” he said.
Another problem is that the pesticides used to produce our food require farmworkers to wear long-sleeve shirts, pants, full face coverings, and hats to reduce exposure, but that only makes their bodies warmer.
When OSHA does finalize its rule, there’s no guarantee it will become immediate law, as it will undoubtedly be challenged by business interests, boosted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning its own 1984 precedent in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which required courts to defer to federal agencies’ expertise when considering legal challenges to a regulation.
California Democratic Rep. Judy Chu introduced legislation last year to direct OSHA to establish a permanent, federal standard to protect workers against exposure to excessive heat in both indoor and outdoor environments, but it hasn’t received support in the Senate.
As of April, six states had passed their own laws providing heat protections for outdoor workers, according to KFF, a nonprofit health care policy organization. But despite its excessive heat and reliance on agriculture workers, the Florida GOP-controlled Legislature thwarted any local community from enacting its own protections for workers — an action that Castor blasted on Thursday.
“The Florida Legislature is captured by powerful special interests,” she said. “To think that in this state where we rely on our neighbors who work outside in construction and tourism and in the fields, that they do not value their work. They don’t think they should have water breaks, that they shouldn’t have the ability to get into the shade to take preventive measures. It’s simply outrageous.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected]. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.
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