Florida will become the second state to block local governments from requiring heat protection for outdoor workers, following the Republican government. Ron DeSantis signed Bill 433.
The law, which DeSantis signed last week, takes effect July 1 and establishes multiple restrictions for city and county governments, including the ability to set heat exposure requirements that are not already required by state or federal law.
Republican Rep. Tiffany Esposito of Fort Myers, who sponsored the House version of the bill, told reporters that her husband had worked in the South Florida construction industry for two decades and that she knew that the industry took worker safety seriously.
“This is a very people-centered bill,” Esposito said. “If we want to talk about Floridians thriving, they do it by having good job opportunities. And if you want to talk about health and wellness, and you want to talk about how we can ensure that all Floridians are healthy, you do that by making sure they have good jobs, and in order to provide good jobs, we must not put businesses out of business.
About two million people in Florida work outdoors, from construction to agriculture, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. On average, summer in the state can reach up to 95 degrees, with humidity and blazing sun sometimes making it feel like it’s over 100 degrees.
What is HB 433?
House Bill 433, called the Employment Regulations Bill, says it seeks to “prohibit political subdivisions (city and county governments) from maintaining a minimum wage other than a wage state or federal minimum; to prohibit political subdivisions from controlling, affecting, or assigning preferences based on wages or benefits of entities doing business with the political subdivision; review and ensure applicability. »
Regarding protections against heat exposure, the bill’s summary details that it will prohibit political subdivisions of:
Require an employer, including an employer contracting with the political subdivision, to meet or provide heat exposure requirements not otherwise required by state or federal law.
Give preference, or review or seek information, in competitive bidding to an employer based on their heat exposure requirements.
The bill’s analysis delves deeper into the decision to regulate heat exposure protections, saying the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has developed best practices over the years. He adds that recognizing that preventing heat-related illnesses “requires education and close collaboration between employers and employees.”
“As local governments have begun to adopt their own workplace heat exposure requirements, some of which apply only to specific industries, which ignore an employee’s individual responsibility to follow the relevant guidelines and protect oneself from heat-related illnesses, and rely on fines and penalties imposed on employers to fund enforcement of these requirements,” according to the bill.
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What are the statewide protections against heat exposure in Florida?
Although she emphasized in her summary that counties and cities should adopt the state’s positions on protection from heat exposure, Florida does not have a statewide standard. State. However, the text of the bill largely supports OSHA’s guidelines on this matter.
Florida falls under federal OSHA jurisdiction, which covers most of the state’s private sector workers. State and local government workers are not covered by federal OSHA.
OSHA has a “general duty clause” that requires employers to provide workplaces “free from recognized hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.” This includes heat hazards that could cause death or serious injury.
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What does HB 433 mean for workers in Florida’s cities and counties?
Overall, the legislation would make all local heat protection measures “null and prohibited” in all 67 Florida counties.
In Miami-Dade County, this legislation would run counter to the county’s proposal to require 10-minute shade breaks every two hours for any outdoor construction or agricultural worker. After years of negotiations, county commissioners put the item on their agenda until the law was signed.
At a press conference Friday, DeSantis addressed the bill, saying “there was a lot of concern in one county, Miami-Dade.”
“And I don’t think it’s a problem in any other part of the state,” he said. “I think they were pursuing something that was going to cause a lot of problems there.”
Luigi Guadarrama, political director of Sierra Club Florida, said in a statement that the new law is the latest example of DeSantis failing the state’s environment, economy and workers.
“Instead of addressing the growing crisis of protecting our workforce, the governor has chosen to abandon millions of hardworking Floridians and leave our state more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change,” Guadarrama said. “He has consistently ignored the real issues affecting Florida families to appease his donors and big business.”
How many heat-related deaths does Florida have per year?
From 2010 to 2020, the University of Florida recorded 215 heat-related deaths in Florida, with the number of annual deaths varying between 10 and 28.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, average annual heat-related deaths increased by 95% between 2010 and 2022, and about 1,200 people die from it each year in the United States.
Florida is expected to experience more days of extreme heat this summer (when temperatures are at least 95 degrees), compared to averages over the past 30 years, according to the Florida Climate Center at Florida State University.
What other state has ended local heat protection orders?
Last year, Texas suspended the ability of city and county governments to impose protections on outside workers with House Bill 2127.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill on June 13 and it took effect on September 1. The law ended safeguards such as the city of Austin’s 2010 ordinance requiring construction sites to provide rest and water breaks for at least 10 minutes every four hours and the similar ordinance of the city of Dallas in 2015.
San Antonio considered a similar measure before HB 2127 was approved.
Which states have implemented thermal protection?
Only five states offer statewide heat protections, with California being the first after four farmworkers died from heatstroke in 2005.
The following states require employers to provide shade and water during high temperatures:
California
Colorado
Minnesota
Oregon
Washington
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Thermal protection for outdoor workers banned in Florida with new law
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