“This heat safety ordinance will change my life,” said Filiberto Lares, who has been delivering food to airplanes for Sky Chefs at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport for 11 years...

“People who work outside and in hot indoor environments in Phoenix suffer unacceptably during our deadly summers, with too few protections,” said Katelyn Parady, a Phoenix-based worker health and safety expert with National COSH, who assisted local workers and unions in advocating for new protections from extreme heat.

"It has been shown repeatedly that immigrants, particularly those who may not speak English and are most desperate to earn a living for their families, are often the most afraid to speak up, and therefore are most exploited and those who are exploited," says Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a worker advocacy organization.

“People who work outside and in hot indoor environments in Phoenix suffer unacceptably during our deadly summers, with too few protections,” said Katelyn Parady, a Phoenix-based worker health and safety expert with National COSH, who assisted local workers and unions in advocating for new protections from extreme heat. “This ordinance is a critical first step toward getting workers lifesaving protections and holding employers accountable for safety during heat season. It’s also a model for how local governments can leverage their contracts to protect the workers who keep their communities running from climate change dangers.”

Katelyn Parady with National COSH interviewed in story about the new Phoenix heat ordinance.

These immigrant workers — some who may not have legal status — also have less agency to speak up about unsafe conditions, said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb with the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.

“They’re at the bottom of the ‘lowerarchy.’ And that means that they toil in the most dangerous jobs, work the longest hours and have the least ability to speak up in the face of exploitations,” she said.

“It’s hard to even describe just how intense the heat is here,” said Katelyn Parady, a Phoenix-based representative of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. “Workers talk about getting dizzy, throwing up, working themselves into a state of exhaustion, and there were no specific protections until now.”

The bill was reintroduced to the Agriculture Committee this year. A workers’ advocacy group called WeCount spearheaded an effort to take up the issue on the county level as well. They helped push for an ordinance in Miami-Dade County that would fine employers in agriculture and construction who failed to provide water and shaded rest breaks in dangerous heat conditions. 

Darryl Alexander, adviser for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said the plan does not establish specifics for monitoring.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, the Sierra Club, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health and the Farmworker Association of Florida are among critics seeking a veto of a bill (HB 433) that would prevent local governments from putting requirements on contractors about wages and heat-exposure protections for workers.

“In passing a heartless, unnecessary and shortsighted bill, elected officials are turning their backs on workers and disregarding the dangers of working outdoors in searing heat,” said Jessica E. Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, in a statement.

In a controversial move, the Florida Legislature has passed a bill that prohibits local jurisdictions from mandating employers to provide workers with heat safety measures, such as access to water, rest and shade. This decision has sparked outrage among safety advocates like the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).

Marcy Goldstein-Gelb is co-executive director for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, an advocacy group. She said OSHA has found companies willfully violating safety rules after deadly accidents — especially when the investigation finds that a company failed to establish a confined space entry program, necessary to keep workers safe. 
 

“Sadly, workers have a well-grounded fear of retaliation against those who speak up about safety problems, including the threat of getting fired,” Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said in a statement in November. “Including a representative selected by workers can overcome obstacles and improve communication during the inspection process. That creates a better opportunity to identify and correct safety problems that put workers at risk.”
 

“Unfortunately, it’s still a hazard in the workplace,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the Somerville, Massachusetts-based National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.

“Giving workers the right to select someone as their representative is critical to ensuring their safety and health,” Shelly Anand, co-founder and executive director of the Sur Legal Collaborative, said in a National COSH press release. “Many times workers don’t even know they have the right to participate in the walkaround process.

Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said the lack of national occupational standards around airborne disease protection represents a fatal flaw in the Biden administration’s decision to relinquish its control of the pandemic.

“Every workplace needs to have a plan for reducing the threat of infectious disease,” she said. “If you only focus on the individual, you fail workers.”

Jessica Martinez, co–executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said OSHA is underfunded and overwhelmed, making it nearly impossible to effectively oversee Walmart’s behavior.

“This year again, we see that Black and Brown workers are dying at a higher rate than other workers,” said Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, in a statement. “This disparity reflects both historical and current discrimination in our workplaces and cannot be tolerated. All workers have a right to get home safe and sound after a day at work.” 

Jessica E. Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), specifically responded to the revelation that the fatal injury rate for Black or African American workers (4.2 percent) and Hispanic or Latino workers (4.6 percent) increased in 2022. Both totals surpassed the all-worker rate of 3.7 percent per 100,000 FTE workers, with transportation incidents the leading cause of death for both groups.