🔥 Extreme Heat is Putting Workers in Danger
Latinos are three times more likely to die from heat on the job than non-Latinos.
Summer just started and we’ve already reached record-breaking high temperatures with over 130 million Americans under extreme heat advisories across the west and east coast. Human-caused climate change is making heat waves more likely, more intense and longer lasting. Heat is a serious workplace hazard that threatens the health, safety, and lives of workers every year.
Communities of color face heightened risks and exposure to climate-related events, like extreme heat, with Latinos among the groups most likely to be harmed. Latinos make up 83% of farmworkers in the US and also work in other outdoor jobs, putting them especially at risk of heat injuries and illness.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), nearly half of heat-related deaths happen on a worker’s first day on the job and over 70% of the deaths occur during the worker’s first week. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that workers suffer 22.85 million occupational injuries and 18,970 work-related deaths from excessive heat every year.
Unfortunately workers are having to choose between their health and earning money for their families, and most of them choose to go to work and put their life at risk. Even workers who work indoors risk heat-related illnesses when they can't access air conditioning or water.
Studies have shown that about 3 billion US labor hours were lost in industries like agriculture, construction, and manufacturing in 2022 from lost worker productivity related to heat exposure. As temperatures climb with the climate crisis, excessive heat is expected to cost the US economy $500B/year in lost labor by 2050.
Click here to download the Extreme Heat Safety Checklist by the American Red Cross.