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Protecting Health and Safety Against Extreme Weather
Climate change-driven extreme weather creates dangerous working conditions through hazards like heat stress, poor air quality, or catastrophic storms. Every year dozens of U.S. workers die from exposure to heat, and there are thousands of work-related heat injuries and illnesses. AFT advocates for workplaces "free from recognizable hazards" through OSHA mandates at the state and federal level, including heat standards to protect indoor and outdoor workers from heat-related illnesses by mandating, among other things, paid rest breaks, water, and shade.
Hazardous heat exposure can occur indoors or outdoors, and can occur during any season if the conditions are right, not only during heat waves.