Admire Stewart and Maggie Rodriguez holding a water bottle Rodriguez purchased for the University of Maryland stewards. Staying hydrated can be a challenge when housekeepers work long hours in unair-conditioned dormitories on campus.
Emily Hofstadter/WYPR
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Emily Hofstadter/WYPR
Peppa Stewart took a deep breath and sat quietly, the breeze blowing on her face. Next to her lay a gallon-sized water bottle.
“Right now I have a migraine from yesterday’s heat and I have heat hives,” she said, pointing to the bump on her arm. She trained herself not to scratch them, which would only make them worse.
Stewart works in Ellicott Hall, one of the dormitories on the University of Maryland, College Park campus that does not have air conditioning.
President Joe Biden has set occupational standards for workers working in extreme heat conditions, but it could take years to take effect. Meanwhile, states including California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington have passed protections to prevent workers from toiling in extreme temperatures.
Maryland will finalize its heat standards later this summer, making it the first state on the East Coast to do so.
When students were on summer break, Stewart was one of dozens of housekeepers who cleaned every inch of the building — doing laundry, waxing floors, vacuuming student bedrooms.
When she spoke to reporters in early June, she said the temperature inside the building was approaching 90 degrees.
“I really haven’t finished my homework yet because I’ve really slowed myself down [more] than usual,” she said.
Stewart felt that her employer was generally supportive of her taking the necessary steps to prevent herself from getting too sick — such as slowing down, stopping to drink water, or simply putting her work on hold until the worst of the heat passed.
But many people are not so lucky.
36 U.S. workers die from heatstroke in 2021, last year jobs were completed Year The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides data. This number has been growing over the past decade and, according to independent surveys, may be an underestimate.
In the ten years from 2011 to 2020, there were 34,000 work-related heat injuries and illnesses that were severe enough that workers had to take time away from work. The numbers are also likely an underestimate because states define heat stroke differently and most data comes from self-reporting, according to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Democratic state representative Lorig Charkoudian introduced a bill to set Maryland heating standards back in 2020.
“We are facing severe impacts of climate change, which will play out in multiple ways, often harming the most vulnerable communities first,” Chakoutian said.
Occupational safety experts say Maryland is poised to enact one of the most comprehensive standards.
Under the rules, employers must provide protective measures in workers’ native languages and provide an acclimation period so workers can adjust to the heat. When the heat index (including humidity) reaches 80 degrees or above, the workplace must have a written heat safety plan. This applies to both indoor and outdoor work. When temperatures reach ninety degrees, additional protocols are triggered, such as mandatory paid cooling and shading breaks every two hours.
The upcoming standards are facing opposition from some industry groups.
Steve Sohasky, who advises construction companies on creative risk management solutions, said the standard was too extreme and that workers and companies could regulate themselves.
“If people need a break, they will take a break, you know, we have flexibility in our work,” Soharski said after a stakeholder meeting with the Maryland Department of Labor.
Construction workers make up about 6 percent of the workforce, but account for more than one-third of annual heat deaths, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health. People of color and immigrant workers tend to hold jobs that are most at risk for heat stroke.
Adele Abrams, a Maryland labor attorney, said the dangers of working in the heat should not be minimized.
“I represent employers, but I’m not going to sugarcoat this: people die from heatstroke. I’ve worked on some fatalities and I know weather conditions are a factor in worker deaths,” she said.
Industry advocates have expressed concerns about the feasibility of establishing cooling and shading stations, especially in jobs where workers are constantly moving. But Abrams said some solutions require planning and creativity. Low-cost options include having crews in trucks with air conditioning on or setting up cooled trailers.
Abrams expressed concern about state enforcement of protections as the federal government slowly develops its own standards.
“How many times can [employers] Reinventing the wheel and reprogramming them? Abrams said. “That’s part of what drove employers crazy when the COVID regulations came out…it seemed like every other month we had to readjust it because new information became available or old information was found to be inaccurate.”
Anastasia Christman, a policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project, said Congress has been notoriously slow to update OSHA laws.
“Public comment periods can be long, and cost-benefit analysis is very difficult as far as OSHA is concerned because how do you calculate the value of harm that won’t occur? You have to factor in some negatives,” Christman said.
Meanwhile, states like Texas and Florida have made it illegal for municipalities to pass their own heating ordinances.
Christman noted that heat can cause fatigue or confusion and can be the root cause of other incidents such as a forklift collision or a car accident on the way home.
“I think it would be very interesting to see if we see a reduction not just in direct heatstroke, but in all other types of injuries as well. Workplaces are actually just starting to become safer,” she said.
If federal standards take effect, enforcement will remain a challenge, experts say. OSHA has fewer than 2,000 inspectors responsible for nearly 8 million workplaces.
