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Will workers be protected from extreme heat on the job?

Jun 3, 2024
More than 400 workers died due to heat exposure between 2011 and 2021, according to federal records. Five states have created their own workplace heat safety rules, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is working on a new safety standard.
Five states have created their own workplace heat safety rules and several more are close to adopting them, says Anastasia Christman at the National Employment Law Project.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Baltimore bridge victims were immigrants in riskier, hard-to fill jobs

Mar 27, 2024
Mexican and Central American workers have been the lifeblood of the Baltimore economy, but they're also part of the "lowerarchy."
"Unfortunately, even when they're in the middle of the night, working the graveyard shift in the middle of a flimsy bridge, that represents a future for them and that represents opportunity for them," says George Escobar of CASA about immigrant workers.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

The extreme heat takes a physical toll — and an economic one

Aug 18, 2023
Low-income workers who aren't able to choose their work schedules are especially hard hit. And that has a cost of its own.
Construction workers rebuild an interstate highway during a heat wave in Houston on July 14.
Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

They cleaned the U.S.' largest coal ash spill; many have died waiting for compensation

Sep 26, 2022
Coal ash contains a slew of toxic elements. The Tennessee Supreme Court is weighing the latest effort to block the workers’ cases.
In December 2008, more than 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash were released from a holding pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Harriman, Tennessee.
Lily Jamali/Marketplace

Ahead of the holidays, retailers compete on store safety

Nov 12, 2020
Because, yes, the pandemic is still raging, and a lot of customers are still hesitant to go shopping.
Signs are placed to direct traffic inside the Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall in Arcadia, California, in October.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The new workflow for plumbers means turning some jobs down

May 20, 2020
The owner of a plumbing company won't serve clients who are ill, and both plumbers and clients must wear face masks.
Connie DePaepe, owner of American Drain Works & Plumbing. DePaepe's rules have changed since the pandemic hit.
(Photo courtesy of Connie DePaepe)

Workers forced to choose between feeling safe and jobs

May 6, 2020
More than 40 states have plans to lift restrictions, clearing the way for people to return to work. But are employees ready for that?
A customer waits his turn for a haircut in Lilburn, Georgia, on April 24, the day the governor allowed some businesses such as barbershops to reopen.
Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

OSHA takes a limited role protecting workers in pandemic

Apr 29, 2020
The agency hasn't set specific safety standards to hold employers to.
President Donald Trump has declared that meat processing businesses are "critical infrastructure."
David Dee Delgado/Getty Images