California requires indoor workers to adhere to heat stroke prevention measures

California is poised to pass the state’s first regulations to protect people who work indoors from extreme heat, a policy that could take effect as soon as later this summer.

The California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) Standards Committee unanimously voted Thursday to approve heycircle circleOak Place RulesThis will send the standards to the state’s Office of Administrative Law for quick final approval, meaning the standards could go into effect by early August.

The heat plan was originally scheduled to go into effect in 2019 but faced a five-year delay. If enacted into law, the policy would protect about 1.4 million warehouse workers, restaurant employees, manufacturing workers, and other indoor workers from dangerously hot working conditions.

The regulations require employers to monitor employees for heatstroke and provide hydration, breaks, and cool areas if indoor temperatures reach 82 degrees Fahrenheit. If temperatures reach 87 degrees Fahrenheit, employers must take further measures, such as providing more breaks, adjusting work schedules, slowing down work pace, and providing air conditioning.

If these rules go into effect, California would join Oregon and Minnesota as the only states with policies to protect indoor workers from the heat. In 2006, California passed heat standards for outdoor workers, including those in agriculture and construction.

Meanwhile, in Texas and Florida, recent state laws have weakened workplace protections against extreme heat by prohibiting cities and counties from enacting local regulations to protect outdoor workers, such as requiring water breaks or time in the shade.

Labor advocates have been pushing for national workplace heat standards for indoor and outdoor workers, but the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has yet to adopt such rules.

Advocates say California-style regulations are needed more urgently than ever as heat waves become more frequent and intense due to climate change.

“This is huge,” said Anastasia Nicole Wright, policy manager at WorkSafe, a non-profit worker advocacy group based in Oakland, Calif. “Workers need these protections as soon as possible.”

But the state’s new requirements don’t protect all indoor workers. For now, they exempt employees of state and local correctional facilities, as well as other prison staff. In March, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration revised the standards to exempt the state prison system, questioning how much it would cost to bring the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation into compliance with the requirements.

Some labor advocates believe the temperature standards set in California’s policy are still too high.

“The risk of heatstroke depends on both temperature and humidity, but it also has a lot to do with physical demands,” says Tim Shaddix, legal director for the Warehouse Workers Resource Center, an advocacy group based in Ontario, Calif. “If a warehouse worker is lifting heavy boxes for an eight- or 10-hour shift, they’re at risk for heatstroke even when temperatures are in the high 70s.”

Shaddix added that he hopes California’s restrictions will inspire other parts of the country to implement similar rules.

“As summer temperatures rise due to climate change, the problem is only going to get worse, so it’s really important that we see progress and we see more models that encourage other states to follow,” he said. “And that’s the push at the federal level, and we really need that, because we have to make sure that workers across the country are protected.”

More people die from heatstroke each year in the United States than from any other extreme weather event. In 2022, 43 people died from exposure to ambient heat in the workplace, up from 36 in 2021. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Robert Mootrie, senior policy advocate at the California Chamber of Commerce, said California employers are “moving into compliance mode,” but added that certain industries, such as restaurants, will bear a greater burden because kitchens are essentially hot, enclosed spaces.

Mootrie also said small businesses in particular have expressed concerns about how to best implement the rules when they come into effect in just a few months.

“It doesn’t take much to change your internal practices, train your staff, and talk to your lawyers,” he said. “All of these things take time and resources.”

Regarding workers in California prisons and jails, Cal/OSHA said in a statement that it plans to “proceed with proposing industry-specific regulations for local and state correctional facilities that take into account the unique operational realities of these workplaces,” but did not provide a specific timeline.

Wright expressed disappointment that tens of thousands of prison staff are exempt from the restrictions.

“They’re a big percentage of the workforce,” she said, “but heat is an issue for workers and non-workers alike. Many prisons don’t have central air conditioning, so forcing prisons to take certain measures to ensure temperatures inside prisons are safe for workers would benefit inmates as well.”