Jeffrey M. Siminoff—Protecting workers from the immediate short- and long-term effects of extreme climate and weather

Read the letter to the editor on The Washington Post here.

Regarding the June 9 front-page article “Hazardous air quality takes a toll on outdoor workers”:

The airborne effects of the Canadian fires have shown the United States is largely unprepared when it comes to protecting workers from the immediate short- and long-term effects of extreme climate and weather. This reality plays out, of course, against a backdrop of entirely missing, incomplete or inconsistent regulation. Though some states (including California and Oregon) are taking the lead on outdoor work and worker safety (and extending the analysis to indoor work environments), until the federal government establishes strong, practical and well-enforced (a crucial component) regulations relating to work and weather, the safety and dignity of workers will continue to be at extreme risk.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration should expedite its glacier-paced rulemaking relating to these issues. Other states now confronting chokingly bad air quality should ramp up their own efforts, and smart employers who want their workers to be productive, engaged and committed to their work should find their own ways to support and implement (not undermine) the actions that are clearly necessary to protect hard-working at-risk workers.