Continuing Our Discussion on Heat

NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) reported that 2024 is the hottest summer.

Heat is the leading cause of death among all hazardous weather conditions in the United States. The groups most affected by extreme heat are outdoor workers, such as farm and construction workers, indoor workers who lack air conditioning, and emergency responders. The risks of extreme heat are felt especially hard by construction workers because of the need to wear helmets and goggles that trap heat on the head and the eyes. Unsurprisingly, these workers are disproportionately low-wage earners, people of color, and immigrants.

While construction workers accounted for only 6% of the total workforce, they accounted for 36% of heat-related deaths from 1992 – 2016.

Excessive heat in the workplace can cause several adverse health effects, including heat stroke and even death, if not treated properly. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 479 workers in the U.S. died from exposure to environmental heat from 2011-2022, an average of 40 fatalities per year in that period. Additionally, 33,890 estimated work-related heat injuries and illnesses resulted in days away from work from 2011-2020, an average of 3,389 per year in that period. However, these statistics for occupational heat-related illnesses, injuries, and fatalities are likely vast underestimates.

Workers in outdoor and indoor work settings without adequate climate controls are at risk of hazardous heat exposure. Specific heat-generating processes, machinery, and equipment (e.g., hot tar ovens, furnaces, etc.) can also cause dangerous heat when cooling measures are not in place. Some groups, such as pregnant workers, may be more likely to experience adverse health effects from heat. In contrast, others are disproportionately exposed to hazardous levels of heat, such as workers of color in essential jobs who are more often employed in work settings with a high risk of dangerous heat exposure.

If implemented, this new rule would protect workers from extreme heat by ensuring breaks, shade, and water.

OSHA has posted the proposed rule for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings in the Federal Register, now available at https://federalregister.gov/d/2024-14824.

OSHA encourages the public to submit comments to the Heat Injury and Illness Prevention rulemaking docket at https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/OSHA-2021-0009-4761. The comment period is open until December 30, 2024.

ACTION: Protect Clean Energy & Climate Investments in the Inflation Reduction Act

Our elected officials need to hear from us; they need to listen to how we support their passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and how we are just seeing the flow of new clean energy and the growth of the green economy in Arizona. We do not want to know about the funding cut when we see the benefits through affordable and equitable clean energy options for all Arizonans. The Arizona home energy rebate program just kicked off at the end of August [Efficiency Arizona], we shouldn’t stop it now when it is just starting.

Take action by letting our elected office know we support the Inflation Reduction Act, and cuts supported by the fossil fuel industry are a terrible idea.

Air Quality Monitoring

In partnership with CVS Health Foundation, the American Lung Association is implementing a Public Health Intervention to Reduce the Lung Health Burden of the Climate Crisis in Maricopa County.  The Lung Association is distributing PurpleAir air quality sensors throughout the county to measure fine particulate matter (PM_2.5). Send your name, address, and a brief statement on why air quality is important to you to request a free Purple Air sensor for your home or business to sensors@lung.org.

What We Are Reading & Listening to this Week

• How to Navigate the Clean Energy Transition (Sierra Magazine)
• How to Decarbonize Your Entire Home (Sierra Magazine)
• Is getting food delivered worse for the climate? (NPR)
• Hualapai Tribe fights to extend ban on lithium drilling (AZ Mirror)
• Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings Rulemaking (OSHA)
• Phoenix breaks 2 heat records in 1 day (AZ Central)
• Ending fossil fuels is a new beginning for health (video) (Med Society Consortium on Climate and Health)

Join Us

• October 8^th 7:00 am – 8:30 am: Webinar: Accelerating the National Climate and Health Movement: Mobilizing Toward Action from the National Academy of Medicine, Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the US Health Sector. Register
• October 10^th9:00 am – 10:00 am: Safe Spaces: Protecting Student Health on Children’s Health Day and Every Day Register here.
• October 23^rd 8:30 am – 4:00 pm: 2024 Arizona Heat Summit Desert Willow Conference Center Phoenix Register
• October 15^th 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm: AzNA Climate Change & Health Workgroup October Zoom Meeting.Zoom Link.

Thank you for joining us in making a healthier planet today!