"‘Your body is completely drained’: US workers toil in heatwaves with no protections,"

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Millions of Americans faced dangerous temperatures earlier this month as a heat dome blanketed the midwest and eastern US. The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for much of South Carolina as temperatures hit the 90sF (32C).

Yet, workers across the country who toil in the heat both indoors and outdoors have to get through the summer without any heat protections in the workplace. Like Parker, many workers are left to try to treat their heat stress symptoms on their own.

This past June was the hottest month of June on record worldwide, while July 2023 to June 2024 have been the hottest 12 months on record, with 2024 on pace to break 2023 as the hottest year on record. The Biden administration announced the proposal of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) rule to protect 36 million US workers from the heat on 2 July. But implementation won’t likely occur for several more years...

In 2023, an estimated 2,300 people in the US died from heat-related illness, the highest record of heat-related deaths in 45 years.

“The excessive heat the US has experienced in the last month is particularly dangerous to the people who have to work in it – hundreds of thousands of workers succumb to heat-related illness, injury and death each year,” said Rebecca Dixon, president and CEO of the National Employment Law Project...