On a sweltering afternoon in July 2020, Belinda Ramones received a call that her brother was in the hospital. Ramones said the call came from a woman from Davey Tree Expert Co., a Hillsborough County landscaping business he joined that week. When he arrived, he said, “My brother was swollen from his hands to his toes.”

Two days later, his brother, Jose Leandro-Barrera, died at age 45 of acute kidney failure caused by heatstroke, according to a Hillsborough County medical examiner’s report. The report stated that his body temperature in the ambulance was 108 degrees.

It described the circumstances before his death, as recorded by a nurse. At the construction site, Leandro-Barrera told his supervisor that he wasn’t feeling well, and the supervisor told him to sit in a vehicle until he felt better. While there, he “urinated on his own, experienced seizure-like activity” and became unresponsive.

“The employee experiences heat exhaustion while doing landscaping,” he said. an investigation We reported the incident to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The agency fined Davey Tree Expert Co. $9,639. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

Without national regulations to prevent heat-related illness and death, OSHA generally has difficulty protecting workers before it’s too late, Labor Department spokeswoman Paloma Rentería said.

Workers became victims as the summer months got longer getting hotter With climate change. But health policy and occupational health researchers say worker deaths are not inevitable. Employers can save lives by providing plenty of water and breaks and allowing time for new workers to acclimate to extreme heat.

READ MORE: Heat-related illness threats increase as extreme temperatures continue in South Florida

That’s the logic behind national rules that President Joe Biden implemented in 2021, aimed at protecting nearly 36 million workers exposed to extreme heat. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that an average of 480 workers die each year from heat exposure. But these are “grossly underestimated estimates.” According to OSHABecause heat stress is a key factor that is often not taken into account in medical records.

advocacy organization Public Citizen estimates As many as 2,000 U.S. workers die from heat each year, according to estimates from heat injury data.

Linda McCauley, dean of Emory University’s school of nursing and occupational health researcher, said both predictions are grim. “No one should go to work thinking they might die,” he said.

OSHA’s proposed rules, a heat standard, reach a milestone on Dec. 30. public comment period closes. However, it does not seem possible for this issue to be finalized before Biden leaves office.

Jordan Barab, who was OSHA’s deputy secretary during the Obama administration, said Vice President Kamala Harris would likely advance heat rules if she wins the presidency next month. Improved heat regulations in California in 2020.

Barab predicts that the rules will stop if Donald Trump wins. Republicans generally opposed workplace safety regulations. last 20 yearsHe says they are costly for businesses and consumers. And during the first Trump administration, the number of OSHA inspectors tasked with monitoring workplace safety reached an all-time low in the agency’s 48-year history. Workplace inspections related to heat stress have dropped by half under Trump’s watch, according to the report. National Employment Law Project.

OSHA’s rules require employers to provide ample, cold drinking water and shade or air conditioning for breaks when temperatures exceed 80 degrees. Above 90 degrees, employers will be required to provide a 15-minute paid break every two hours.

Matias J. Ocner

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Miami Herald

Two additional aspects of the standard address overlooked issues that contribute to heat deaths in the workplace. more than that 70% of employees Those who die from heat do so in their first week on the job. And delayed medical care is a common theme.

“We need to stop telling people who complain about fainting to sit in the car or take a break,” McCauley said. “Rest breaks are needed to prevent the problem, but when a person develops symptoms they need immediate help.”

The proposed rules require employers to give new workers time to adjust to warm temperatures and establish protocols such as a buddy system; so workers can receive prompt medical care as soon as they show signs of heat illness, such as dizziness, confusion, and cramps.

When an emergency medical team arrived to help a worker in the Panhandle’s Apalachicola National Forest in July 2021, the worker had stopped breathing, according to the Department of Labor. Press release.

The crew supervisor at EarthBalance, an ecological restoration company based in Sarasota County, saw the worker earlier that day and said the worker was “sweating profusely, his hands were shaking, and he appeared confused,” the agency said. “Only 30 minutes later, when the manager returned to the man, he found him unresponsive.”

That evening, 42-year-old Gilberto Macario-Gimenez died at the hospital, according to a medical doctor’s case report. He stated that “the deceased was overheated” and attributed his death to heart disease and hypertension. Heat can exacerbate these conditions.

OSHA investigated the situation. EarthBalance was fined $9,216. find this “The employer failed to ensure that a person adequately trained to provide first aid to employees worked in an area where an infirmary was not available.”

EarthBalance did not respond to requests for comment.

OSHA received at least 12,980 comments on its proposals submitted to the federal registry. a woman wrote about his cousin The man who died while clearing brush for a farmer in Texas when temperatures exceeded 100 degrees: “He was only 34 years old. There were no water or rest breaks.”

After the comment period ends in December, OSHA will hold a public hearing, incorporate the changes, and finalize the rule. If Harris becomes president, the agency could complete the process by 2026, Barab said. For the rule to work, Congress must funding OSHA This way, staff can be hired to teach employers how to apply the standards and a sufficient number of inspectors to enforce them.

Many industry groups opposed the standard. The Associated General Contractors of America called it “unnecessary, impractical and impractical.” The group wrote in a statement that no single set of rules is fair in an environment where climate and jobs, as well as workers’ ability to tolerate the heat, vary widely. online notification.

Some Republican lawmakers said the rule was a government overreach. State Rep. Rick Roth, R-West Palm Beach, He told Al Jazeera Workers are pushing for paid breaks because they “don’t want to work too hard.” If they feel unsafe, they may change jobs. “Go work for someone else.”

Critics also say the regulations will impose costs on employers. But one UCLA analysis The percentage of workers’ compensation claims in California shows that the national heat standard saves money overall. The study estimates that heat-related injuries, including medical bills, lost wages and disability claims, cost between $750 million and $1.25 billion annually in California alone.

Alfredo De Lara

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Fault Lines/KFF Health News for Al Jazeera English

Because six states—California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington—have different sets of rules to reduce heat-related illnesses, researchers and union representatives were able to see where policies needed strengthening. One problem with the practice is that OSHA relies heavily on employees to report hazards. A study found Only 14% of nearly 600 agricultural workers surveyed in California knew about acclimatization and how much water they need when temperatures are high.

Although Florida does not have specific heat regulations, Dominique O’Connor of the Florida Farmers Association said the biggest obstacle to job safety is that workers fear being fired for complaining to OSHA.

This is especially true for agricultural workers who hold H-2A visas, which allow noncitizens to fill temporary jobs. Because these workers depend on their employers not only to stay in the country but also for transportation and housing, retaliation from employers would be life-changing. “We talked to H-2A workers who were given only contaminated water on the job this summer,” he said. “They were told to treat it like it was just coffee.”

Leaders in many Republican-led states are likely to oppose the federal standard if it is released. Last April, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law legislation that prevents local governments from requiring employers to provide workers with water and shade when temperatures rise.

And the Supreme Court’s decision this year to overturn the “Chevron doctrine” may embolden employers to challenge OSHA’s ability to enforce the rules. For decades, the Chevron doctrine required courts to tap regulatory agencies’ expertise when interpreting regulations, but the high court’s decision put an end to that. “We are in uncharted territory,” Barab said.

Jeremy Young, senior producer of Fault Lines at Al Jazeera English, contributed to this report.

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