Arizona task force proposes plan for statewide workplace heat safety guidelines

The Industrial Commission of Arizona will begin reviewing recommendations to keep workers in the state safer in extreme heat. After months of meetings, a task force with members from several different industries has now submitted its findings to the agency.

Arizona is known for hot weather, but the state has never had safety regulations specifically to protect workers from heat on the job. Seven other states, including neighboring California and Nevada, have now adopted state-level standards for workplace heat safety.

Gov. Katie Hobbs in spring convened a task force to recommend new heat safety guidelines for Arizona workplaces. The group of 24 Arizonans from industries including roofing, construction and firefighting had a Dec. 31 deadline to submit recommendations to the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

Their proposed guidelines would require employers to create workplace heat illness prevention plans, provide potable water at no cost to workers, provide shade and encourage workers to take rest breaks. The guidelines would also require employers to provide acclimatization periods and training to help workers stay safe in the heat.

The group recommends exemptions for workplaces where employees are exposed to heat only for short periods and for emergency operations.

“These commonsense recommendations focusing on access to water, shade, and rest will keep countless Arizonans out of harm’s way,” Hobbs said in a press release.

But some labor groups have already expressed concern that the recommended guidelines may lack meaningful measures to hold employers accountable.

“The recommendations or the guidelines for the employers are going [to the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health], but not a plan for implementation or enforcement. So what we want to see now is ADOSH couple those recommendations with a plan to actually hold folks to the standard. Otherwise, it's just words on paper,” Monica Sandschafer, Arizona State Director of Mi Familia en Acción, a Latino civic engagement organization, told KJZZ’s The Show.

The recommendations will now be considered by an ADOSH advisory committee. The committee will review the recommendations in a public meeting on Feb. 4.

Following the ADOSH advisory committee’s review, the Industrial Commission will decide how to proceed, said Industrial Commission chairman Dennis Kavanaugh.

“We do have rulemaking authority,” Kavanaugh said. But, he added, “state rulemaking is an extensive, lengthy process.”

Kavanaugh noted the Industrial Commission would also be keeping an eye out for a potential new heat safety standard at the federal level. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been considering establishing nationwide heat safety rules, but there is no clear timeline for enacting a federal standard.

Arizona does have some local-level workplace heat safety rules already in place. The cities of Phoenix, Tucson and Tempe, along with Pima County over the last couple of years have adopted heat safety ordinances for city or county employees and contractors.

But those ordinances apply only to narrow groups of workers, and some workers say the ordinances lack teeth.

Trina David, who has worked at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for 18 years, said she still wants more protections than what the city-level ordinance offers.

“I would like to see real protections that companies will follow and accountability for companies that do not follow those protections,” David said.

David said every summer she sees colleagues suffering from the impacts of extreme heat.

“The heat is indescribable. It is more like a convection oven. Inside the bins it is even hotter, you’ll slip in your sweat. Your shoes melt every summer walking across the tarmac because it is so hot,” David said.