Turned on April 11, 2024Governor DeSantis signed House Bill 433 into law, which will enter into force on July 1, 2024. Among other actions, the legislation prevents city and county governments from requiring employers, including government contractors, to provide thermal protections for outdoor workers beyond those required by state or federal law. These protections include requiring water breaks and other cooling measures for outdoor workers. The law also prohibits local governments from giving preference to employers based on their heat exposure policies. In response to the legislation, Miami-Dade County commissioners withdrew their pending proposal to provide thermal protection standards for the county’s outdoor workers. Florida is the second state after Texas to enact a policy that prevents local ordinances from requiring certain thermal protections, including water breaks. This analysis shows that the law could affect nearly 1.8 million non-elderly adult outdoor workers in Florida, who are disproportionately Hispanic and non-citizen immigrant workers. It is based on KFF analysis of data from the 2022 American Community Survey.
In Florida, Hispanic immigrant and non-citizen workers make up a disproportionate share of outdoor workers who will be affected by the law. Hispanic workers make up 40% of the non-older adult outdoor labor force compared to 30% of the total non-older adult labor force, and non-citizen immigrants make up nearly double the share of outdoor workers compared to their share of the workforce (22% vs. 12%).(Figure 1). Among outdoor workers, these groups represent a particularly large proportion of workers in transport, outdoor cleaning, construction and agriculture (Appendix Figure 1).
These policies have been enacted amid a recent increase in the frequency, duration, and intensity of climate change-related issues. heat waves inside the United States that have caused wildfires, air pollution events and record-breaking heat days. Last year, Florida experienced its hottest year since 1895, with surface temperatures reaching 177 degrees Fahrenheit in some places. Last year, some Florida hospital systems saw a large increase in emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses. In April 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) cited a South Florida contractor for failing to provide heat exposure protections after a migrant farm worker died of heat-related injuries in 2023. More heat-related deaths are likely to have occurred. as heat-related injuries and deaths are suspected to be greatly underestimated and research shows that extreme heat is associated with higher all-cause mortality.
Outdoor workers are exposed to high temperatures and are disproportionately likely to experience heat-related actions. diseases and deathswhich also have economic impacts.Research studies have found that workers in agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, and construction experience the highest rates of heat-related mortality. Without any mitigation strategies, the threats associated with exposure to extreme heat are expected to increase due to climate change. A 2021 study reports that extreme heat-related labor productivity losses could cost Florida as much as $52 billion by 2050. Additionally, another report finds that without mitigation, extreme heat could put $8.4 billion in total annual income at risk by 2065 for Florida outdoor workers. Blacks and Hispanics and noncitizen immigrants are likely to be hardest hit because of their overrepresentation in many outdoor occupations. Beyond the increased climate-related health risks due to their jobs, people of color, immigrants, and other underserved groups also face increased climate-related health risks. climate due to structural inequalities, such as higher rates of poverty and uninsured, as well as immigration. -related fears
From April 2024, six states (CA, CO, MN, NV, OR, and WA) have occupational thermal protection standards for outdoor workers and Maryland is in the process of developing its own thermal stress standard. MN and OR also have thermal protections for indoor workers, and CA is in the process of developing thermal protection standards for indoor workers. Last year, the federal government took steps to protect workers from extreme heat, including issuing the first-ever Heat Hazard Alert and increasing DOL enforcement of violations inspections. thermal safety The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has recommendations for preventing heat stress at work, which include teaching workers to recognize the signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses and changing working conditions to reduce ‘exposure and health risks associated with heat. In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a general duty clause that requires employers to provide their employees with a workplace that is free from recognized hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious injury to employees, including heat-related hazards. However, there are currently no federal standards for worker heat protection. OSHA is in the process of developing indoor and outdoor worker heat protection standards at the federal level, but there is no word on when they will be completed.
As the country heads into the summer months and scientists estimate a one in three chance that 2024 will be hotter than 2023, efforts to increase awareness and understanding of the dangers associated with exposure to extreme heat will be important to reduce negative health related to extreme heat. impacts Continued actions to mitigate climate-related health risks for workers will be important as the effects of climate change continue to grow.
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