PHOENIX — Arizona has no statewide, detailed heat-safety rules for workplaces despite recording some of the nation’s hottest summer temperatures. New recommendations from the state’s Workplace Heat Safety Task Force aim to provide more protections to workers from extreme heat.
The task force is calling for guidelines that include water, rest, and shade.
- Water: Water must be cool and easily accessible so workers can hydrate regularly and provided at no cost. Water must be free from dirt or contamination and stored in coolers or containers that are cleaned regularly.
- Shade: Shade that blocks direct sunlight should be provided as close as possible to where employees are working outside.
- Rest breaks: Rest should occur in shaded areas and allowed, without penalty, when employees feel the need to do so to prevent overheating. New or workers unacclimatized to the heat may require longer or more frequent breaks.
The full list of recommendations can be found here.
The task force also recommends all employers must develop and maintain a Heat Illness Prevention Plan. Heat safety training would also be provided to employees.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs created the task force through an executive order earlier this year.
“You and your families deserve to know that when you go to work, you will come home safely,” she said when she announced the task force in May.
A separate group called the Arizona Heat Standards Coalition is pushing for formal rules that can actually be enforced. That group recently presented a letter to the governor.
“Seven U.S. states have adopted enforceable standards to protect workers from heat. It's well past time for Arizona,” the letter said, in part.
Arizona has no statewide, detailed heat standards for workplaces. Businesses can be cited for heat violations under what’s called the “general duty clause,” meaning workplaces have to be free from hazards that are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. But this is a very broad description. Past efforts to try to change Arizona laws to add more heat protections have failed.
Trina Davis is among the workers pushing for mandatory standards instead of guidelines. She has spent 18 years working at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
“I have loaded the bins, loaded the bags…stood on the tarmac when the heat hits you from above and below,” she told members of the Industrial Commission of Arizona at a recent meeting.
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She said mandatory standards would “level the playing field” so businesses play by the same rules.
“Without enforcement, responsible businesses subsidize irresponsible ones,” she said.
The recommendations are not yet final. The Industrial Commission of Arizona, the state agency that oversees worker safety, still needs to hold public hearings and review the recommendations.
The governor’s executive order also required the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH) to create a recognition program for employers who go beyond basic safety requirements for heat safety.
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at: anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X and Facebook.
