Arizona has new workplace heat safety guidelines this summer. Some still want more enforcement

Arizona this spring adopted a new set of heat safety recommendations for workplaces in the state. Now that extreme summer heat is here, some advocates say workers still face unsafe conditions, but some employers appear to be making changes.

“From personal conversations I’ve had with day laborers, construction workers and farmworkers, they’ve seen little-to-no difference in their lives in terms of increased protections on the job,” Jazmin Moreno Dominguez said during a call with reporters Tuesday.

Moreno Dominguez advocates for worker’s rights with the organization Agave Community Threads. Her concern is that the updated state heat safety guidelines still lack enforcement measures.

Her organization, and other labor groups have been calling for regulations like California and six other states have, which would require employers to provide workers with water and heat safety training, and penalize employers who don’t take such precautions.

Hard work and heatstroke

Arizona workers say they need more protections from extreme temperatures on the job.

“When they’re recommendations and not an enforceable standard, we’ll always have individuals who will choose to not provide these protections,” Moreno Dominguez said.

The issue is urgent, Moreno Dominguez said, because Arizonans have died from heat exposure on the job and many low-wage workers may fear speaking out.

Dennis Kavanaugh, chairman of the Industrial Commission of Arizona, said he agrees that enforceable statewide heat regulations would keep employers more accountable. He said he expects the state may develop a standard in the near future.

The Industrial Commission is set to discuss the issue of heat safety again in December, and could potentially begin a rulemaking process for a new statewide standard at that point.

“I think that would be the way to go because right now, good employers follow our rules; bad employers don’t, and that results in fatalities or injuries,” Kavanaugh told KJZZ News.

But Kavanaugh said he does think Arizona employers have been taking heat safety more seriously since the state adopted the new workplace heat safety recommendations.

The Industrial Commission has been asking some large Arizona employers during public meetings this summer whether they are following the new recommendations, and Kavanaugh said the vast majority of those asked have said they are.

“I’ve been really pleased that they’re doing it, and they’ve said, ‘No problem.’ Others have had really good policies in place, and they’ve only had to make minor adjustments,” Kavanaugh said. “We haven’t had any complaints, or people saying ‘this is putting us out of business.’”

Kavanaugh said his message to Arizona employers amid this summer’s scorching temperatures is that heat safety measures should be common sense.

“It’s pretty simple: have water available, have shade available, allow employees to be acclimatized, have rest breaks,” Kavanaugh said. “These aren’t measures that break the bank, but they will save you money and lost time on injuries, or — heaven forbid — fatalities."