Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has adopted emergency rules effective immediately that will strengthen requirements to protect workers from extreme heat after a farmworker died during a record-breaking heat wave on June 26.
Gov. Kate Brown called on the agency to adopt rules earlier this week.
The temporary rules, which expand access to shade and cool water, will be in place for 180 days until OSHA adopts permanent heat rules this fall.
The rules use the heat index, a measure of how hot it feels when relative humidity is taken into account along with the actual air temperature.
When the heat index is at 80 degrees or above employers are required to provide access to sufficient shade and drinking water.
At 90 degrees or above, employers must ensure employees are observed for symptoms of heat illness, provide a 10-minute shaded rest break for every two hours of work and ensure employees can report concerns.
The shade can be natural or artificial but can’t expose employees to unsafe or unhealthy conditions and should accommodate the number of employees taking a break.
Water must be readily accessible, free, cool and enable each employee to drink 32 ounces per hour.
Michael Wood, administrator for Oregon OSHA, said the rule creates greater clarity for employers about steps that need to be taken to protect workers from heat stress.
“For employees, it further crystalizes their existing rights to protection from heat hazards where they work,” Wood said in a prepared statement.
No later than Aug. 1, employers must ensure employees are well versed in risk factors for heat illness and the employer’s responsibility to provide water, heat index info, shade, rests and access to first aid.
Oregon farmworker union PCUN, Renew Oregon, Northwest Justice Worker’s Project and Oregon Environmental Council applauded the rules, calling them the most protective in the nation, but expressed concerns over their enforcement.
They said the tragic death of Sebastian Francisco Perez, a 38-year-old farmworker who died while working on a tree farm in St. Paul, showed protections for workers cannot wait.
“In the case of Perez, the contractor and nursery had repeatedly violated other OSHA standards yet continued to place workers at risk. Advocates will continue informing workers on their workplace rights as the emergency rules are implemented because the rules will have no significant impact on workers if they are not fully enforced by Oregon OSHA,” a news release from the groups read.
-Saphara Harrell
