Heat-stricken warehouse workers won’t soon be cooled due to holdup in new protections – Orange County Register

For six years, Inland warehouse workers turned to Sacramento to beat the heat.

Relief arrived Thursday, March 21, when a state board approved rules protecting workers in various settings from sweltering indoor temperatures.

But those rules could be shelved for months or longer, frustrating activists who warn that indoor heat threatens the health, and even lives, of warehouse workers.

Although the rules stem from a law passed eight years ago, the California Department of Finance says it hasn’t had enough time to conduct a legally required study of the rules’ costs.

“I guess the question is, well, what were they doing all these years?” asked Sheheryar Kaoosji, executive director of the Ontario-based Warehouse Worker Resource Centre.

Finance Department spokesman HD Palmer said it wasn’t until February – admittedly late in the process, he said – that his agency became aware of the “significant costs” – potentially several billion dollars – to enforce the new rules in state prisons.

That triggered the legal requirement for a thorough study of the cost of the rules, Palmer said. The ministry was not in a position to complete the study when the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Council met on March 21, he added.

“It wasn’t a thermal regulation issue at all,” Palmer said. “It wasn’t a worker safety issue. It was simply our failure to do the necessary tax diligence.

The state Office of Administrative Law, which reviews state regulations, is “unlikely” to move forward with indoor heating rules “without a certification from us,” Palmer said .

Additionally, the one-year deadline the Department of Finance has to certify that it is in compliance with the rules’ financial estimates expires March 30, Palmer said.

“After that, the timer resets and it is unclear how long it will be before the rules can be enforced. It wouldn’t necessarily take a whole year,” Palmer said.

The state Department of Industrial Relations, which oversees labor laws, could hypothetically enact the heat rules as emergency regulations not requiring input from the Department of Finance, Palmer said. In this case, the rules would be in effect for a year and would only become permanent when the Finance Ministry completes its cost study, he added.

In an emailed statement, Erin Mellon, communications director for Gov. Gavin Newsom, said “the administration is committed to implementing indoor heat regulations and ensuring workplaces are protected.”

“However, it is unwise to move forward with a cost estimate that is several billion dollars off. We are exploring all options to put these worker protections in place, including working with the legislature.

Logistics is the cornerstone of the Inland Empire’s economy, employing tens of thousands of people who work in warehouses — often a million square feet or more — that stretch as far as the eye can see. Summer temperatures often reach 100 degrees or more in the region and in the desert, where more and more warehouses are springing up to satisfy the demand for logistics space.

For years, warehouse workers have complained of fainting spells, headaches, dizziness, nausea and other symptoms they attribute to stifling indoor working conditions in a fast-paced environment, with little or no time for breaks.

In some cases, the heat led to heart attacks or organ failure among workers, Kaoosji said.

“Because workers are pushed to work as fast as they can, they don’t take breaks. They don’t drink water,” Kaoosji said. “Often the water is far from where the workers are. »

Workers “also move in and out of metal shipping containers that are exposed to the sun most of the time during the day,” Kaoosji said.

Some warehouses are air-conditioned, but many are not, he added.

“The heat in these facilities often builds up over time to the point that it is as hot, or sometimes hotter, inside than it is outside. »

Online retailer Amazon, a major domestic logistics employer, said it has already taken a number of steps to keep workers cool.

Regarding the new rules, Amazon spokeswoman Maureen Lynch Vogel said via email: “We have seen the positive impacts of our effective heat mitigation program and believe all employers should be required to uphold the same standards that we have already proactively established for our business and our employees. Amazon delivery service providers.

The new rules, which also apply to non-warehouse employers, make California the second state in the nation after Oregon to enact indoor heat standards in workplaces and are an outgrowth of state law signed in 2016. There is no national indoor heat standard.

This law establishes temperature thresholds that, if met, would require warehouse employers to take steps to lower indoor temperatures or to relieve workers from the heat.

Once indoor temperatures reach 82 degrees, employers will need to provide workers with water and access to cooling areas. Fans or other cooling devices should be used once the temperature reaches 87 degrees.

“Right now, workers have the right to speak out when they feel sick or affected, no matter what,” Kaoosji said. “(The new rules place the burden on the employer to actually manage (heat) and address it when it exceeds this temperature, because workers should not be in a position where they (have to) complain or s ‘express.”

With the rules in limbo, Kaoosji said his center is contacting elected officials and working with unions and other groups “to make it clear that (these rules) need to go into effect.”

“We will continue to bring workers together to speak out about this issue in their workplace throughout the summer and raise awareness of the right to speak out about heat and other workplace issues. workplace, whether or not there is a standard.”