Dozens of warehouse workers, delivery drivers, restaurant employees and advocates traveled to San Diego Thursday to urge the California Occupational Safety and Health Agency to take swift action implementing an indoor heat standard.
The California Legislature first directed Cal/OSHA to take up the issue of adding indoor heat regulations to protect workers in 2016. An indoor heat standard would mirror state regulations that protect outdoor workers, including requiring employers to provide breaks, water and other safety measures when temperatures rise to a certain level.
Temperatures already are ramping up around the state; the year’s first record-breaking heat wave is expected to hit this month. But workers warned that desert climates, particularly in the Inland Empire and other parts of Southern California, can bring high temperatures year-round.
The warehouse and logistic industry has grown in the Inland Empire, especially since the pandemic. Some workers complained about heat in warehouses and trucks.
Viviana Gonzalez, a UPS driver in Palmdale and shop steward for the Teamsters 396 Local, told the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board that in the past nine years she has talked to a number of employees who experienced heart palpitations or suffered heat stroke while working indoors.
She urged the board to be as specific as possible about mandated breaks, cool-down areas and temperature limits, because lives depend on it.
“We’re out there working in 115 degrees, and the back of the trucks get to 140 or 150,” Gonzalez said. “Our bodies go through a lot of stress. I’m just here asking you guys to put everything in writing, because…
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