Construction workers repair a road in Houston, Texas. AFP

David Sherfinski and Diana Baptista, Reuters

As the United States endures record temperatures, people working in tough conditions from farms to construction sites have little respite from the heat — and are often unable or afraid to take breaks despite the risks to their health and even their lives. Extreme heat is the top weather-related killer in the nation — yet protections for workers are widely lacking, according to advocates who say that failing to ensure people can take breaks for water or shade will lead to more severe illness, and deaths. Eva Marroquin, 50, a mother-of-five from Austin, Texas, works jobs that include construction and cleaning — and sometimes finds herself defenceless against rising heat.

It has been much worse this year, Marroquin said, explaining how she had to seek medical advice after dehydration problems and recalling that she left a recent job with a nagging cough after working in a house with no air conditioning. But missing work isn’t always an option. “I don’t always want to cancel work because it’s a responsibility and customers won’t always agree,” said Marroquin, who is a member of the Workers Defense Project, which advocates for immigrant workers. “Because I am a mother and I survive on that salary ... if I stop working, who is going to bring the salary to my house?”

As climate change fuels rising temperatures globally — Earth experienced its hottest three-month period on record from June to August — fears are growing over working conditions and labour rights, be it for fruit pickers or parcel delivery drivers. Only about a tenth of US states — including California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington — have enacted specific, comprehensive heat protections for workers — and even those measures are works in progress, labour advocates say. Industry groups have pushed back on some of the rules, saying they could saddle their businesses with additional costs. But for workers, it can be a matter of life and death.

From 2011-2021, there were 436 work-related deaths due to environmental heat exposure, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “We’re talking about keeping people alive at work,” said Daniela Hernandez, state legislative coordinator with Workers Defense Action Fund, a Texas-based advocacy group affiliated with the Workers Defense Project. “We can’t let another worker die in the heat.”

California has had specific heat rules in place for outdoor workers since 2005 — like access to water and shade — though campaigners have been pushing for more, including rules for indoor workers, which are currently being developed. But in general, such laws are limited. In Colorado, they apply only to agricultural workers, for example, while in Minnesota, they only cover indoor workers.

In Oregon, new permanent rules took effect last year, requiring easy access to shade and drinking water for indoor and outdoor workers when the heat index is at or above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.7 degrees Celsius). When it tops 90F (32.2C), employers must implement a 10-minute cool down period for every two hours of work. However, not all workers say they are seeing changes — and some are wary of reporting employers who flout the rules to the government’s Occupational Safety and Health departments (OSHA), according to Kate Suisman, an attorney with the Portland-based Northwest Workers’ Justice Project.

“Workers are very, very afraid to lose their jobs. So cooperating with federal OSHA or Oregon OSHA or whoever — it is a risky thing,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

After a deadly “heat dome” — a mass of high-pressure air — broke temperature records in 2021 in the usually more temperate Pacific Northwest and parts of Canada, Oregon and neighboring Washington state responded with tougher or new heat rules. Oregon lawmakers this year passed laws to increase the fines and penalties the state can levy on violators, and give workers the right to refuse “dangerous” tasks.

In Washington state, permanent outdoor heat rules requiring access to shade and water - which kick in at 80F (26.7C), or 52F (11.1C) for workers wearing “non-breathable” clothing - took effect in July. Washington in 2008 implemented heat rules for outdoor workers, though those were more limited in scope. The state also announced temporary emergency rules in 2021 and 2022 with certain requirements for rest and water starting at 89F (31.7C). Even with these regulations, there is still frustration and a need for clarification on enforcement, according to Edgar Franks, political director for Familias Unidas por La Justicia (Families United for Justice), a union group. However, Franks said the new standard marked a decent starting point.