Biden administration announces plan to protect farmworkers and others from extreme heat

President Biden on Sept. 20 launched what the White House called a coordinated, interagency effort that will respond to the extreme heat that “threatens the lives and livelihoods of Americans, especially workers, children, and seniors.

The White House said in a release that the U.S. experienced a dangerously hot summer this year, breaking records last set during the Dust Bowl.

During the June 2021 heatwave in the Pacific Northwest, states reported hundreds of excess deaths and thousands of emergency room visits for heat-related illness, the release said.

Millions of U.S. workers are exposed to heat in their workplaces, and essential jobs with high exposure levels are disproportionately held by black and brown workers, the White House said.

In response, the Biden Administration said it is taking immediate action on heat hazards to protect workers and communities as part of a broader commitment to workplace safety, climate resilience, and environmental justice.

The White House said the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Agriculture; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are announcing a set of actions that will reduce heat-related illness, protect public health, and support the economy.

The Department of Labor is launching a multi-prong initiative on occupational heat exposure to protect outdoor workers, including agricultural, construction, and delivery workers, as well as indoor workers, including those in warehouses, factories, and kitchens, according to the White House.

Specifically, the Biden Administration said it is announcing a whole-of-government approach to address extreme heat by developing workplace heat standards and increasing enforcement: The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is responsible for setting and enforcing standards to ensure safe, healthy working conditions. The White House said heat is a growing workplace hazard, with the climate crisis making extreme heat more frequent and severe. Workers in agriculture and construction are often at the highest risk, but the problem affects all workers exposed to heat, including indoor workers without climate-controlled environments. 

To better protect heat-exposed workers, the White House said OSHA is launching a rulemaking process to develop a workplace heat standard: OSHA has announced the issuance of an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on heat illness prevention in outdoor and indoor work settings. This is a significant step, the White House said, toward a federal heat standard to ensure protections in workplaces across the country. The advance notice, which will be published next month in the Federal Register, will initiate a comment period allowing for OSHA to gather diverse perspectives and technical expertise on topics including heat stress thresholds, heat acclimatization planning, and exposure monitoring, according to the White House.