First it was a headache. Then nausea. Anna Ortega, 25, recognized these classic symptoms as the beginning of heat illness as she worked her 10-hour warehouse shift sorting packages in San Bernardino this summer. She had to step away to vomit in the bathroom, blaming it on heat.
The Amazon Air Hub where she works has ceiling fans and some AC, but it can be stuffy in her department on the second floor. Last September, she and her colleagues found the indoor temperature hit 89 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I know that I'm going into work and I'm going to be sweating the majority of the day,” says Ortega. “And I know that management's not gonna offer me and encourage me to take a heat break, and to work at a pace that's healthy and be mindful of my body.”
Anna Ortega is active in calling for her employer Amazon to protect its workers from extreme heat. Photo courtesy of Warehouse Workers Resource Center.
Workers like Ortega say they urgently need more protections as climate change makes heat waves longer and more frequent. So far, specific regulations don’t exist for warehouses, restaurants, and garment factories where ventilation and air conditioning can be lacking.
Heat is the leading cause of weather-related death in the U.S. and was responsible for more than 430 worker deaths from 2011 to 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Officials say this is likely an undercount. More recently the progressive advocacy group Public Citizen tallied more than 2,000 deaths and 170,000 injuries annually.
Read more: Cutting CO2 emissions will prevent humans from literally melting, says author
Local veteran restaurant worker and chef Celeste, who asked to go by her middle name to protect her job, says conditions in SoCal commercial kitchens can easily exceed 100 degrees in summer, especially close to the stoves. “If we got too close to it, the metal rings on our shirts would burn us,” says Celeste of one kitchen range.
Federal officials say they are on the case. In July, Sen. Alex Padilla co-introduced the Asunción Valdivia Act that would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to start regulating heat in the workplace immediately. Employers could be required to provide better ventilation or air conditioning, cold water, and designated areas for cool-down breaks.
The state of California is also working on workplace rules, but very slowly.
Currently, California requires employers to protect workers from extreme heat outdoors, but has no precise indoor heat requirements. CAL/OSHA is currently proposing rules that call for access to air conditioning, cool water, and rest areas to kick in at 82 degrees. Employers would also be responsible for training employees and staff on preventing and recognizing heat illness.
However, these rules have been delayed. In 2016, the state mandated that CAL/OSHA expand rules to include indoor workplaces by 2019. The agency says the slow progress is due to the complex rulemaking process and pandemic related delays. The agency is expected to issue the final rule by May.
One of the complications is that the state is trying to create one rule that covers a variety of industries, from restaurants to hospital burn units, says Rob Moutrie, a policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce.
Deogracia Cornelio, the education director at the Warehouse Workers Resource Center, says the delay is unacceptable and that heat should be treated like an emergency. "It's not a lack of technology, it’s not a lack of knowledge. It's a lack of political will.”