California workers must wait even longer for indoor heat protections

We’re a big state with big challenges. Each morning we explain the top issues and how Californians are trying to solve them.A warehouse worker sorts packages at an Amazon fulfillment center on Nov. 11, 2010. Photo by Ross D. Franklin, AP PhotoCalifornia workplace safety rules for indoor heat protection are five years late, but a state board delays them again, apparently over state cost concerns. Labor officials are incensed.

The proposed rule would require employers to either try to cool workplaces that get hotter than 87 degrees indoors or take other measures to reduce the risks of heat illness. California faces a budget deficit projected at as much as $73 billion. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders in the Legislaturethat they would try to reduce the shortfall by $12 billion to $18 billion before passing a full budget in June.

A spokesperson for the Department of Industrial Relations — which oversees both the standards board and Cal/OSHA, which initially drafted the rule and enforces worker safety laws — confirmed today that the Department of Finance “identified additional impacts on the public sector for further analysis.”

California administrative law gives regulatory agencies such as the workplace standards board one year to approve new rules after they formally propose them. That deadline for indoor heat is March 31. After that, the standards board would have to re-propose the rule and hold another public hearing and 45-day comment period before taking a vote.

The proposed rule would require warehouses, factories, restaurants and other workplaces to cool workplaces down if the temperature reaches 87 degrees. If installing air conditioning isn’t feasible, employers would be required to take other measures such as adjusting schedules, allowing longer breaks or providing personal fans or cooling vests.

Steiger said any concerns about the costs were already addressed in an economic impact report the industrial relations department prepared between 2020 and 2021, and which the finance department reviewed for years afterward.

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