As Heat-Related Health Risks Rise, Biden Proposes New Regulations

Forbes July 3, 2024
Joshua Cohen

President Biden proposed a new rule on Tuesday to address the risks of excessive heat in the workplace. The first-of-its-kind measure would protect an estimated 36 million U.S. workers, including farm laborers, employees in delivery and construction, landscapers and indoor workers in warehouses, factories and kitchens.

Speaking at the Washington, D.C. Emergency Operations Center, the president said that, “extreme heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States—more people die from extreme heat than floods, hurricanes and tornadoes combined.”

Last year, a record-setting 2,300 people in the U.S. died from heat-related illnesses, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Though a small number of states have workplace standards in place for heat exposure—California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington—there are...

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