The coming summer is likely to be hotter than usual in many parts of the country, according to predictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. 

And extreme heat can be a deadly proposition. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Heat-related deaths have been increasing in the U.S. with approximately 1,602 occurring in 2021, 1,722 in 2022 and 2,302 in 2023.

Yet, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute, there are “no federal occupational health and safety standards in effect to protect workers from heat exposure.”

Fortunately, the study reports, some states have been taking matters into their own hands including California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington.

But the alarming news in the report comes from the states of Texas and Florida, which appear to be decidedly unconcerned about the impact of extreme heat. Most recently, the report states, Florida enacted legislation “limiting local governments from creating heat exposure requirements that are not recognized under the state or federal law.” 

Back in April, the Kaiser Family Foundation provided some of the details of this new restriction writing that it “prevents city and county governments from . . . requiring water breaks and other cooling measures for outdoor workers. The law also bans local governments from giving preference to employers based on their heat exposure policies. In response to the legislation, county commissioners in Miami-Dade withdrew their pending proposal to provide heat protections standards to outdoor workers in the county.”

Given the demographics of Florida’s outdoor workers, this legislation will have a disproportionate impact on Hispanic and non-citizen immigrants in that state. As the KFF points out, “Hispanic workers make up 40% of the nonelderly adult outdoor workforce compared with 30% of the total nonelderly adult workforce, and noncitizen immigrants make up nearly twice the share of outdoor workers compared to their share of the workforce (22% vs. 12%)”

As Esteban Wood, director of the advocacy group We-Count, told NPR, the new law is "a profound loss . . . for all the families that have for many years been fighting for the minimum—which was just water, shade and rest, and the right to return home after work alive."

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