California workplace safety board approves heat protections for indoor workers, excluding prisons
California’s workplace regulators passed rules that would protect indoor workers from extreme heat
LOS ANGELES — On the first day of summer with parts of California sweltering under a heat advisory, a state worker safety board approved standards Thursday that would require employers to protect workers from indoor heat, but would exempt state correctional facilities.
The board of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health first passed indoor heat rules in March. However, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration blocked them over concerns about costs to prisons and other state entities.
The amended rules, which stand to impact about 1.4 million workers and 196,000 establishments, need final approval from the Office of Administrative Law to take effect. And after Thursday's vote, Cal/OSHA board chair Joseph M. Alioto Jr. requested that the office expedite that step.
The heat rules are intended to prevent or reduce illnesses, injuries, permanent disabilities and deaths related to heat stress for greenhouse and warehouse workers, kitchen staff, teachers, custodians, bartenders and others. California is one of a few states, including Oregon and Minnesota, to establish indoor worker protections.
The rules come as global warming raises temperatures and in the absence of federal heat standards for workers in the U.S.
Amid this week's record-breaking heat scorching the Midwest and Northeast, employers are providing safety measures to workers to protect them from extreme heat. Between 2012 and 2022, 418 people died from work-related exposure to heat across industries, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The regulations would apply to workplaces such as warehouses, schools and kitchens.
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