Ignoring the Heat
Aug 9, 2022 12:53:47 #
With the extreme hot weather around the country, many employers are refusing to take the increased heat into account where their workers are concerned. Whether it's 70° or 107°, they want to maintain the same working conditions. Breaks, water, fans, and air conditioning aren't negotiable. ‘If we give them breaks, it costs us money’
Lawmakers in many states have been stalling about approving new regulations for hot weather work. Changes in heat regulations have met with strong resistance all around the country. Businesses don't want to make changes, and laws aren't getting passed.
"Germany and Spain set maximum indoor temperatures for workplaces. China has measures to prevent heatstroke in indoor and outdoor workers. But there is no national heat standard in the United States."
Lawmakers in many states have been stalling about approving new regulations for hot weather work. Changes in heat regulations have met with strong resistance all around the country. Businesses don't want to make changes, and laws aren't getting passed.
"Germany and Spain set maximum indoor temperatures for workplaces. China has measures to prevent heatstroke in indoor and outdoor workers. But there is no national heat standard in the United States."
Aug 9, 2022 13:06:24 #
gmontjr2350
Loc: Southern NJ
jerryc41 wrote:
With the extreme hot weather around the country, m... (show quote)
There is little regard for workers among the business class. This has been amply demonstrated from the very beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
Blankenship attributed his coal mine disaster to the "will of God" rather than his refusal to adhere to safety regulations.
During the Lockdown, Amazon workers continued to work without safety precautions in place.
Front-line Health-care workers had insufficient supplies of safety equipment.
Consumers were demanding that minimum-wage workers return to work, in effect risking their lives, so that hair and nail salons would reopen and fast-food joints as well.
All too recently, our servicemen and women were deployed in combat zones without sufficient protective body armor. Official excuses were "You go to war with the army you have" and "So what, they volunteered"
/End Rant
George, USMC, Vietnam Veteran
Aug 9, 2022 13:56:44 #
jerryc41 wrote:
With the extreme hot weather around the country, m... (show quote)
Increased heat? Same heat today (give or take .25 degree F) as I worked in 50 years ago, Jerry, survived. Went to 12 years of primary school in Florida, oops, no A/C, survived. Spent a year in Vietnam in extremely hot weather wearing pounds and pounds of gear, luckily survived. Worked an aircraft carrier flight deck for years, talk about hot, and freezing cold at times, and with all the protective gear we had to wear, survived.
However, don't see a lot of heat related deaths in the workplace broadcast anywhere in the news today, especially here in Florida where its really HOT and HUMID. Federal government is already far too involved in so many things in our daily lives today, no need for more. Granted breaks and precautions should and are being used but I don't think its an epidemic.
Aug 9, 2022 15:25:14 #
Blaster34 wrote:
Increased heat? Same heat today (give or take .25 ... (show quote)
Why am I not surprised?
Aug 9, 2022 23:02:05 #
bikinkawboy
Loc: north central Missouri
I kind of have the mindset of Blaster. I’m not saying that jerry and gmont didn’t make good points, but I’m 66 and work outside in the heat. Lately I’ve been sweating like a horse while carpentering, withstood least two shirts drying on the line while I sweat up a third. I think much of it depends upon being acclimated. My kids ask me why I don’t run the AC and I tell them that if the Amish can make it without even a window fan, then I can make it with one.
Jerry, if you want something to rant about, how about the idiot parents who “forget “ their kids in the car in the heat. On the news they suggested that you put your cell phone in the back seat with you kid because you won’t forget your phone. Ok, you won’t forget your phone but you will forget your kid???
Jerry, if you want something to rant about, how about the idiot parents who “forget “ their kids in the car in the heat. On the news they suggested that you put your cell phone in the back seat with you kid because you won’t forget your phone. Ok, you won’t forget your phone but you will forget your kid???
Aug 10, 2022 03:03:28 #
In summertime in the Phoenix metro, road workers usually start at 6am or earlier, to avoid the worst of the heat. Landscapers, Home Depot Garden dept workers, etc suffer.
Aug 10, 2022 06:11:55 #
jerryc41 wrote:
With the extreme hot weather around the country, m... (show quote)
I will soon be 83 and have all of my adult life worked indoors without A/C and outdoors in temps as high as 105°f in the sun cutting and welding in the shops we had fans either supplied by management or ourselves and survived !
Also went home to window fans for cooling and survived.
I didn't have central A/C until 1995 and that was more or less my down fall, now retired it is much more difficult to work outdoors in the heat and humidity, but I survive, sure coming home to a cool house was nice had I known what it would do to me later in life I may not have used central a/c. I still work from time to time in a shop that is not air conditioned I use a 48" fan and my sweat for cooling and I am surviving.
We now have generations of people that cannot stand the heat!!
Anything else I say may be seen as political! So end of rant
Aug 10, 2022 07:16:06 #
Well, it's always a good idea to get the government more involved in daily life - after all, they know what's best, right? Look at all the great things more government intrusion has done for our lives!
Aug 10, 2022 07:33:01 #
50 years ago, remember that time? We were just kids and air-conditioning was rare. Few cars had it, most homes and businesses didn't.
How did people survive?
Now we hunker down in ac cooled houses, dash to an ac cooled automobile, rush into an ac cooled store.
If we spend more than 5 minutes outdoors we complain about heatstroke.
We have become a society of coddled whimps.
How did people survive?
Now we hunker down in ac cooled houses, dash to an ac cooled automobile, rush into an ac cooled store.
If we spend more than 5 minutes outdoors we complain about heatstroke.
We have become a society of coddled whimps.
Aug 10, 2022 07:55:51 #
gmontjr2350 wrote:
There is little regard for workers among the busin... (show quote)
Our military as good as it is doesn't always react to changes very quickly. When I went to VN, we were issued rucksacks from WWII. They were canvas, weighed a ton when wet, and were unsuitable for jungle warfare. Most of us ditched ours and bought lightweight nylon packs from the locals. They were lighter and dried in no time when they got wet. I might understand the use of the canvas packs early in the war, but I didn't get there until 71', and the adoption of the nylon packs was well known by then but the military just kept issuing the canvas packs.
Aug 10, 2022 09:47:00 #
Jerry, heat stress is a deadly assassin that creeps up on its victim. We nearly lost our grandson two weeks ago from a heat stroke. He works as a mechanic in an unconditioned garage and the temps hit 104 with high humidity. He passed out and was unconscious for 36 hours and his organs were starting to shut down. He's very physically fit at 31 years of age.
Fortunately, with great care and several days at the hospital, they were able to pull him through it.
Fortunately, with great care and several days at the hospital, they were able to pull him through it.
Aug 10, 2022 09:53:28 #
The problem is that the world is experiencing a 2+ degree C increase in temperature. That is 35.6+ degrees F. It's why the polar ice caps are calving huge chunks of ice and climate change is so extreme. Air conditioning exacerbates the problem by forcing hot indoor air back outside to cool the interior...(yes it works that way). In effect, mankind is baking itself and this planet to death. To fix the problem for our children and grandchildren will take world-wide political will. I'm afraid there is little out there to do it.
Aug 10, 2022 10:07:50 #
When I was in college, I had a job with a roofer one summer. We were doing a flat roof in an urban area; Queens, NY, and it was about 95°. The foreman neglected to tell us that it was illegal to work on roofing over 90°. Fortunately, the crew survived but it was difficult.
Aug 10, 2022 10:21:19 #
Indi wrote:
When I was in college, I had a job with a roofer one summer. We were doing a flat roof in an urban area; Queens, NY, and it was about 95°. The foreman neglected to tell us that it was illegal to work on roofing over 90°. Fortunately, the crew survived but it was difficult.
My wife took a motorcycle course one summer. It was so hot that one person passed out and others left. The instructor refused to cancel. My wife came home.
Aug 10, 2022 11:05:49 #
Until it impacts a companies bottom line they will continue to refuse to acknowledge heat related illnesses. They don't understand that anytime they lose some to heat stroke or heat exhaustion it cost them in medical bills and or having to hire and train a replacement that could take up to six months or more to become productive
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