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Dive brief:
- City of Phoenix unanimously approved a thermal safety ordinance on Tuesday in order to better protect outdoor workers in the city from the sweltering Arizona heat.
- In response to high temperatures and an increase in heat-related illnesses and deaths, the city will adopt an ordinance effective 30 days from Tuesday that requires employers with outdoor workers to have a thermal safety plan on record.
- “Extreme heat is Phoenix’s natural disaster,” District 7 Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari said at the meeting. More than 600 Maricopa County citizens died from extreme heat in 2023, nearly 400 in Phoenix alone, and prolonged high temperatures will likely persist due to climate change, Ansari noted.
Diving knowledge:
The thermal safety plans established by the ordinance apply to all contracts, leases and licenses with the city, including subcontracts. Plans must include:
- Availability of free fresh drinking water.
- Ability to take regular and necessary breaks (including water breaks).
- Access to shade and/or air conditioning.
- Access to air conditioning in vehicles with a closed cabin.
- Acclimatization practices.
- Heat illness and injury training.
Union representatives and worker advocates spoke at the meeting and urged the council to pass the ordinance, saying many people have had to work extended hours outside without access to water or shade.
David Hondula, director of the Phoenix Office of Mitigation and Heat Response, explained the reasoning behind the ordinance to the council and said it could benefit employers.
“It also makes sense for us to have and implement a heat response plan,” Hondula told the city council before the vote. “On the one hand, research shows us that workers who are not dealing with, recovering from, or worried about heat-related illnesses are more productive at work.”
The Arizona Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America opposed the ordinance in a March 7 letter to the city, calling it “redundant and unnecessary” and urging the council to vote against it.
In the letter, the AZAGC said the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health already covered thermal safety in its statewide emphasis program and said descriptions of access to air conditioning for taxied vehicles were “very vague” and needed clarification.
Finally, the organization pointed to the lack of an appeals process should an employer face disbarment due to the ordinance.
National thermal safety
OSHA plans to develop a thermal safety standard, but the process is lengthy and the agency has not announced a timetable for implementation. For now, thermal safety falls under the agency’s general duty clause, which states that employers have a basic requirement to protect workers from easily identifiable hazards and maintain a safe workplace.
Like Phoenix, Miami has a designated heat safety officer to help plan and execute safety for the general public during extreme weather conditions. Unlike Phoenix, however, Florida could soon affect local mandates designed to address heat-related worker safety.
The state Legislature passed a bill that bars local municipalities from implementing their own ordinances, ostensibly to reduce several requirements for employers operating across the state.
“I empathize with that [argument], but these requirements are very basic. They’re not strenuous, they’re not too heavy,” state Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat who opposed the Florida bill, told Construction Dive at the time. He added that companies operating in multiple counties and cities have the resources to keep track of the different rules.
Florida’s bill would go into effect July 1, if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs it.
