USA: Agricultural & construction sectors lobby for changes to Miami-Dade bill, 'watering down' heat exposure protections
“Miami-Dade’s worker heat protection bill was a milestone. Lobbyists are watering it down”
A recently proposed Miami-Dade County ordinance looked to offer heat-related protections for outdoor workers six months of the year. Now, changes to the proposal could mean workers receive those protections – for approximately five days a year.
When it was introduced in July, a landmark Miami-Dade County bill proposed heat safety regulations that would have protected outdoor workers for nearly half the year.
After negotiations with lobbyists in the construction and agriculture industries, the latest version of the bill — scheduled for a final vote before the County Commission next month — would take effect for less than five days a year, on average.
That big change is the result of a small but critical edit construction and agriculture lobbyists requested. The original wording would have required companies to give outdoor workers water and breaks on days with a 90 degree heat index, a standard that blends the impacts of temperature and humidity. The current version would now kick in when only the air temperature hits 95 degrees — a much rarer occurrence in Miami…
Switching the heat threshold is the most consequential of a series of changes industry representatives have successfully lobbied for…