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The Biden administration is moving to protect workers and communities from extreme heat after a dangerously hot summer that spurred an onslaught of drought-worsened wildfires and caused hundreds of deaths from the Pacific Northwest to hurricane-ravaged Louisiana. Under a plan announced Monday, the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and other federal agencies are launching actions intended to reduce heat-related illness and protect public health, including a proposed workplace heat standard. (Daly, 9/20)

Extreme heat has cost the lives of hundreds of Americans this summer and affected the health and livelihoods of many thousands more. It now ranks as the leading weather-related cause of death in the country, according to the National Weather Service. The push could lead to new federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards for employers, as well as more funding for cooling centers and other efforts to reduce heat-related illness and death. Nearly two-thirds of Americans live in places that experienced a multiday heat wave between June and August, according to a recent Washington Post analysis. (Joselow, 9/20)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were 43 work-related deaths due to environmental heat exposure in 2019, and at least 2,410 others suffered serious injuries and illnesses, but the Labor Department says heat illness is "largely preventable, and commonly under-reported." States such as California, Washington and Minnesota have heat-related standards in place to protect workers. "This new process is historic and will unquestionably mean fewer worker deaths while improving productivity," Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), who has sponsored legislation to create a federal heat standard, said in a statement. "I know because I have seen it work in California, where I introduced the country’s first worker protections from heat stress." (Colman, 9/20)