America’s Doublethink on Working Through the Heat

The OSHA federal heat standard is expected to mandate providing drinking water and break areas at a specific heat-index threshold, likely 80 degrees, as well as monitoring for heat illness at a higher heat-index threshold, likely 90 degrees, which would take into account factors like humidity. Although this would be a start, it would not truly protect workers, said Jason Glaser, the CEO of La Isla Network. Breaks must happen early and often enough to account for the fact that after a certain amount of heating, the human body simply cannot cool down as effectively and ends up in an overheating feedback loop.