Biden administration to write workplace safety rule tackling heat stress

The Biden administration announced Monday that it will begin crafting a standard to protect workers from heat as the federal government wrestles with a growing public health threat exacerbated by climate change.

The news: The White House said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will publish an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, the first step in the process for designing federal regulations, in the Federal Register next month.

Extreme heat kills more Americans than any other climate-related hazard, yet the federal government currently does not have a federal worker safety rule despite decades of pushing from activists, workers’ rights groups and public health officials, a POLITICO and E&E News investigation found. The government also likely undercounts the number of workplace deaths and injuries that result from heat stress each year.

“Rising temperatures pose an imminent threat to millions of American workers exposed to the elements, to kids in schools without air conditioning, to seniors in nursing homes without cooling resources, and particularly to disadvantaged communities. My Administration will not leave Americans to face this threat alone,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/biden-administration-to-write-workplace-safety-rule-tackling-heat-stress/ar-AAODmdd