Extreme heat is killing American workers. What will Trump do about it? | Opinion

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In June, roughly 200 million Americans baked under a punishing heat dome stretching across the country. Record-breaking temperatures have become our new normal, stressing power grids, buckling roads and filling up emergency rooms. While extreme heat reaches dangerous heights, political silence has descended.

It’s not that we don’t understand the problem. The science has been clear for years. Climate change is intensifying the frequency and severity of extreme heat events.

And every year, we break records not just for temperature but also for hospitalizations, lost productivity and deaths − yet many of our business and political leaders refuse to name the root cause.

“Extreme weather” is the phrase of choice − a convenient euphemism that dodges responsibility and avoids perceived hard conversations. This “climate hushing” since President Donald Trump was reelected isn’t just frustrating. It’s dangerous.

We can't talk about climate change, but we feel it

Nowhere is the gap between the climate crisis and sensible action more obvious than in protections for American workers. We regulate ladders, hard hats and harnesses. Why not exposure to heat, the deadliest hazard of all?

Despite heat being the leading weather-related killer in the United States, we still have no national workplace safety rules for extreme heat.

The Biden administration took an important first step by initiating the process for a federal heat standard. The rule would require employers to provide shade, water, rest breaks and heat training for workers exposed to extreme heat. Since then, progress has stalled. As of today, the rule remains unfinalized. 

This inaction is costing lives. From 2011 to 2022, nearly 500 workers died on the job due to heat. That’s almost certainly an undercount.

One recent death in Texas made headlines: A 35-year-old lineman collapsed while working in 93-degree heat. He never made it home to his loved ones that day.

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Without a federal standard to protect workers from extreme heat, there is no guarantee of accountability or protection − just a patchwork of state rules, some of which are now actively harming workers.

The economic toll is mounting, too: Heat-related losses in labor productivity already exceed $100 billion a year in America, and that figure is expected to rise sharply as temperatures increase.

Entire industries, from agriculture to construction to logistics, are seeing higher injury rates and more missed workdays. The cost of doing nothing is growing every day.

Water breaks and other sensible steps to beat the heat

It’s not just an economic issue. It’s an equity issue.

The lowest paid workers suffer the most. Outdoor workers, disproportionately people of color and immigrants, are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

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Also, low-income communities often lack access to resources like cooling centers or air conditioning at home, live in areas with poor air quality and work in the most exposed conditions. Still, their voices are often missing from public policy decisions and their lives are being treated as expendable by our leaders.

It’s clear that we have the data, the science and the moral imperative to act to protect workers from extreme heat. What we lack is thecourage and leadership to make it happen.

Passing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s heat standards must be a national priority, not a political bargaining chip or a partisan issue.

We also need to reverse the rollback of federal climate programs, like those at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that were created to help communities prepare for extreme heat and other climate threats.

Most urgently, we need business and elected leaders to stop dodging the word “climate.” Not saying it doesn’t make it go away.

Extreme heat is not just a symptom of climate change. It is one of its deadliest and most visible consequences that we are able to observe.

Protecting workers, acknowledging the crisis and preparing for the future must be a central part of our national agenda. Anything less is political and social malpractice.

Leah Qusba is the chief executive officer of Action for Climate Emergency, a nonprofit organization accelerating the global transition to a decarbonized economy.