Georgia workers face rising heat risks as federal protections stall

Georgia workers are enduring extreme heat as it becomes one of the most urgent workplace safety issues in the county.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, better known by its acronym OSHA, is the federal agency that oversees workplace safety. The agency proposed a rule that would require employers to provide water, rest breaks and cooling for workers, but a bill in Congress that was supposed to address heat issues has stalled.

Arnice Sykes worked in a Burger King with a broken air conditioner for years. She testified before OSHA about the conditions saying their response was not enough.

“OK, while you’re investigating, we dying. We in the hospital. We got bills now, extra bills added on to our regular bills and we still can’t pay for it because they’re not paying us correctly,” Sykes said.

The Heat Workforce Standards Act would prevent OSHA from enforcing its proposed heat rule, which Rep. Mark Messmer, R-Ind., called “overly prescriptive” and burdensome to businesses.

However, members of the Service Employees International Union submitted more than 1,000 public comments to support the proposed rule. 

Nicole Hernandez Hammer is the director of climate and environmental justice for the union. She said protections need to be implemented at every level: federal, state and local.

“I think an awareness of how risky work conditions can be and how necessary it is for protections to be put into place as soon as possible because every hot day that we go without the proper protections for workers is a day that lives are put at risk,” Hernandez Hammer said.

Georgia does not have its own heat protections unlike more than 20 other states in the U.S. A state effort to pass heat protections failed this year.