Extreme Heat is Endangering America's Workers

I hope your week is starting off right it is a warm start we also have a lot of haze in the sky for today in July time and Georgia public broadcasting teamed up to report on the impact of heat on outdoor workers we spent a day following Barkley wimpy on his nearly 10 hour shift delivering packages for UPS man it's hot back here pairing the module with the phone right now and now we're going to put it on you before wimpy started his route we put a special patch on him which took readings of his skin temperature and motion throughout the day that's gonna connect to the patch yeah certainly we knew it would be hot like the rest of the state summer is pretty much always hot in places like Rome Georgia and climatologists had warned us that the summer of 2023 was going to be scorching the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is issued an El Nino watch but even still we were all caught a bit off guard by the severity of this year's heat waves brutal Heat Wave triple digit high temperatures the hottest days ever recorded on earth and people who work outside are especially vulnerable [Music] the Heat's very hot already it's not even close to lunchtime yet and I'm not sure exactly what the heat index is but it's got to be already in the 90s in fact the day was actually cooler than forecast in this part of Georgia in part because the sun was diffused by haze from Canadian wildfires in itself another reminder of the warming climate we're already pouring sweat I've been through three or four things of water already today we kept track of the heat and humidity during Wimpy's shift you using a wet bulb Globe temperature thermometer 73 9 74. this measurement gives the most accurate sense of how the weather feels wet bulb Globe temperatures of 82 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit might not sound so high but they are dangerous experts say that at those levels workers should take a cool down break every 30 minutes humidity can be particularly dangerous because it inhibits the evaporation of sweat from the skin which is our body's best way to cool down I see what the it's way too hard to be looking last year about about this time of the year it was very hot like it's going to turn out to be today I got very sick because the heat I had a heat stroke I get this headache and I don't have migraines I don't really get headaches but I had what if I were to guess would be a terrible migraine I mean it was awful I couldn't couldn't wear my sunglasses it hurt my eyes couldn't take them off the sun hurt me I wasn't sweating at all but I was starting to get cold chills I started off the day with a full charge and by lunchtime my battery was on E and I wasn't talking right wasn't Computing wasn't making any sense I wound up going to the hospital and apparently and I didn't know that this could even be a thing and I've now seen it since then with several other drivers unfortunately your kidneys begin to shut down treated properly heat stress can lead to cramps dizzy spells and fainting or even heat stroke and long-term heat exposure can lead to kidney failure we learned from the skin patch readings that at 2 pm and 6 PM wimby's skin temperature reached what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration considers the Extreme Caution Zone within this range people are more susceptible to sunstroke muscle cramps and heat exhaustion in the U.S there's no federal OSHA standard for protecting workers from the Heat California Oregon Washington and Colorado do have laws around heat and labor but in most States it's up to individual employers some 50 million American workers are vulnerable because they work outside official records show about 40 worker deaths from the heat each year but the actual number is likely much higher public citizen a consumer rights advocacy group says that heat is one of the three main causes of death and injury in the American workplace the driver nearly collapsing while trying to do his job in Late July Texas Congressman Greg cassar led a protest at the U.S Capitol calling for OSHA to adopt Federal heat standards as soon as possible we remember those we've lost we respect one another and we hope and demand much better two days later President Biden announced the administration is committed to creating protections for outside workers number one weather-related killer is heat we should be protecting workers from hazardous conditions and we will and those states where they do not I'm going to be calling them out some business owners are against Federal Regulations but heat is increasingly at the center of Labor issues in the U.S including during this Summer's tense negotiations between ups and its drivers UPS trucks are not currently air conditioned but the company has agreed that new vehicles will have a seat beginning in 2024. but workers say they also need more breaks to help their bodies cope on hot days I'm tired it's hot it's it's only Monday I got four more days of this after today to go it's not the hottest it's going to be this summer at this point in the day our wet bald Globe temperature readings showed it was 88.2 degrees Fahrenheit once temperatures reach over 80 degrees with high humidity it's already dangerous to work as the temperature climbs above 90 degrees in those same conditions experts say humans reach the limit of what they can tolerate without long consistent breaks wimpy told us he'd already heard about another colleague who'd had trouble with the heat that same day he came into work today only to have a supervisor have to go out there and assist him getting done with the route today because he was suffering from the Heat once you go through that the heat stroke spell your body is never the same when it comes to heat Heats hard on you summer of 2023 has set new heat records for the planet and raised alarm Bells around General human safety and scientists say there is every expectation that next year will be even hotter it's been very difficult for me the heat has totally changed the dynamic of this job [Music]

Channel: TIME

Views: 3,641

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Id: _76SZVFTlKU

Length: 7min 18sec (438 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 03 2023