May’s heatwaves offer early warning for workers

This spring offered an early warning of summers to come. Across the U.S., unseasonably high May temperatures pushed cities from Washington to Houston, Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and Boston-Cambridge past 90 degrees. Heat is arriving earlier, hitting harder, and demanding a more coordinated local response.

Cities are on the front line of climate change, facing adaptation challenges and heat emergencies with limited resources. A growing number are turning to “chief heat officers,” a relatively new role charged with helping city agencies plan for, communicate about, and respond to dangerous heat. An interdisciplinary group of Harvard faculty recently hosted a convening of these public servants from around the country to share lessons learned and prepare for the future. We called the event “Letters to a New Heat Officer.”

The conversation ranged widely, from measuring heat accurately to coordinating across city departments and budgets. I moderated a panel on protecting workers, especially low-wage workers who cannot avoid working in extreme temperatures. Panelists began by affirming the breadth of the threat: Heat hazards cut across the workforce, affecting indoor and outdoor workers, southern and northern cities, formal employees, and people in the informal economy.

Three takeaways stood out to me.

First, enforceable rules are a powerful tool for protecting workers. Adam Dean, associate professor of political science at George Washington University, shared findings showing that California’s strong, enforced water-rest-and-shade standard has significantly reduced heat-related deaths in the state. California’s regulation includes basic protections such as access to water, rest, and shade once temperatures exceed 80 degrees, and stronger measures once they cross 95. Several panelists pointed to the need for a similar federal standard, such as the one proposed by President Biden’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). 

Second, cities can act even if Washington does not. Many in the room were skeptical that the current administration would finalize a federal heat rule, but there was broad agreement that cities can do a great deal to prevent heat-related deaths and illnesses. Jodi Sugerman-Brozan of Boston discussed recently adopted legislation protecting city workers and employees of companies doing business with the city. She also shared the education materials Boston has produced and the civic partnerships it is building to make sure those materials reach workers, including through translations into 11 languages.

Third, worker organizing is essential to moving employers and city officials to act. Rebecca Reindel, the AFL-CIO’s director of occupational safety and health, described innovative provisions that workers have negotiated in collective bargaining agreements to ensure that they are protected from extreme heat on the job and paid for time they cannot work because of dangerous heat. She also described her work with labor counterparts around the world to coordinate responses to this growing threat. Katelyn Parady of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health discussed work with Phoenix laborers demanding protections as temperatures reach unbearable levels, including through its “Fired Up! Workers for Heat Justice” campaign. I was especially inspired to hear the voices of workers about why this issue matters to them and what it costs when their calls for action go unheeded.  

Heat officer participants explained why they collaborate closely with unions, employers, and workers in their communities – to understand what people need to work safely and earn a living in the heat. Their message was clear. Cities do not need to wait for the next record-breaking heatwave, or for federal action, to protect people on the job. They can set enforceable standards for city employees and contractors, use procurement to raise expectations for employers, translate warnings and training materials into the languages workers actually use. Heat policy will only work if it reaches the people most exposed to danger – and if those people have a real role in shaping the rules meant to protect them.

All perspectives expressed in the Harvard Climate Brief are those of the authors and not of Harvard University or the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. Any errors are the authors’ own. The Harvard Climate Brief is edited by an interdisciplinary team of Harvard faculty.