Extreme heat hitting more workers across every sector, complaints show

by Jennifer Solis, Nevada Current

Nevada workers in nearly every industry are suffering the consequences of record breaking heat this summer, and a growing trend in labor complaints shows it’s only getting worse. 

Data from state labor regulators paint a picture of more and more workers across multiple industries at high risk of heat-related illness in the state.

Last year in July, the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) received 86 heat related complaints from across the state. In July 2023, that number grew to 234 — a 172% increase. 

In August, there were 71 heat related complaints filed, a 39% increase from the previous year, when 51 complaints were filed during that same period. In 2023, 375 heat related complaints have been filed with Nevada OSHA so far — more than any other year on record.

The vast majority of cases filed with state labor regulators so far this year were referrals, meaning complaints filed by anyone other than a current employee or employee representative, which can include ex-employees, customers, field investigators, or health workers responding to heat illness cases.

Referrals filed with Nevada OSHA in 2023 included multiple reports of employees being taken to the hospital due to heat illnesses despite working indoors.

While it’s a common belief that construction workers or other outdoor workers are the ones largely affected by severe heat related illnesses, data from the Nevada OSHA show that a lot more industries can have dangerously hot work environments. 

In Las Vegas, one of the fastest-warming metros in the nation, a malfunctioning air conditioner or lack of cross ventilation can quickly become a dangerous health hazard.

The industries with the highest number of complaints in 2023 were accommodation and food services, retail trade, and manufacturing, according to the Nevada Division of Industrial Relations.

Lack of air conditioning inside “sweltering” warehouses, buildings and vehicles were some of the top complaints in referrals filed with Nevada OSHA. Other complaints alleged that some employers refused to provide employees with breaks, water, or ice while they worked in more than 90 degree temperatures. 

The Las Vegas metro area experienced the hottest July ever recorded this summer, with the last two weeks of July being the hottest 14-day stretch on record, with an average high of 112 degrees. Emergency department visits related to the heat across Nevada in July also more than doubled, compared to the same period last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Employees at several hotels passed out while working and were hospitalized due to heat stress related symptoms in July, allege referrals filed with Nevada OSHA. Guest room attendants at hotels are often required to work for hours in linen closets without ventilation, where indoor temperatures can reach over 90 degrees. 

Hot kitchens and broken AC units in fast food chains and restaurants caused multiple workers to pass out while working indoors as temperatures reached nearly 100 degrees, alleges several referrals filed with Nevada OSHA. 

Several employees in restaurants, retail stores, warehouses, auto shops, industrial laundry centers, and even office buildings were reportedly forced to work for several weeks or up to a month without air conditioning in extreme heat.

Nevada OSHA received a heat related referral for a gastroenterology office where employees were working without a functioning air conditioner. In one dental laboratory, employees were allegedly passing out from heat exhaustion due to a lack of air conditioning, and employees for a payday lender were forced to work in 90 degree temperatures without air conditioning for over a week, alleges a complaint. 

Workers who affect community safety have also been deeply affected by working in extremely hot conditions with no immediate relief. 

Emergency Medical Technicians and paramedics in Nevada have suffered from heat illness while working in ambulances that regularly exceed 100 degrees with no air conditioning as they care for patients, alleges a referral filed with Nevada OSHA. 

In July, a wave of complaints also made their way to Nevada OSHA about the extreme heat pilots, flight attendants, and other airport employees faced after the Harry Reid International Airport moved their parking to a remote lot on Kitty Hawk Way.

Referrals to Nevada OSHA allege pilots and flight attendants had to wait for irregular shuttles to airport terminals in temperatures up to 117 degrees, adding that shuttle vans were not equipped with air conditioning. Airport employees who chose to walk had to travel across 400 yards of direct sunlight on asphalt while in uniform carrying luggage.

The warehouse and logistic industry has grown in Nevada, especially since the pandemic, exposing workers to extreme heat while working in poorly ventilated warehouses. In one distribution center, numerous employees complained the facility was hotter inside than outside, according to a referral. 

Every year it gets hotter, said Leticia Garcia, who facilitates OSHA approved training in Spanish for limited-English speaking at-risk and hard-to-reach workers.

“I’ve lived in Las Vegas for 20 years, and since then I’ve endured extreme heat. More every year, and more now with summers with such intense heat,” Garcia said in her native Spanish. 

Suggestions instead of regulations

The Arriba Las Vegas Workers Center held OSHA training this summer on heat illnesses, and many students shared similar experiences, said Garcia. 

One student who works in an industrial laundry facility said there were times the heat was so intense workers fainted. 

“Instead of employers preventing illnesses, employees have to search out medical help on their own,” Garcia said. “It's not right that workers have to endure these illnesses. Heat can kill.”

Fear of retaliation or a lack of knowledge means that many incidents of heat related illnesses go unreported, and the number of employees enduring extreme heat is likely a lot more, say advocates. 

Nevada, like most states, does not have an enforceable heat illness standard despite regular summers with extreme heat.

State labor regulators can go after bad employers under a general duty clause rule that requires workplaces to be “free from recognized hazards” that could lead to injuries or fatalities, but labor groups say it's difficult to regulate heat using the general duty clause, adding that the lack of specifics makes it hard to prove employers exposed an employee to danger.

The Nevada Legislature also failed to advance a bill this year that would have enshrined legal protections for workers at risk of heat illnesses, leaving no state-specific heat illness rule in place to prevent the hundreds of incidents of dangerous heat at job sites reported to Nevada OSHA this summer. 

The bill passed the Nevada State Senate after language requiring hourly 10-minute breaks was changed to “periods throughout the workday” so workers could “hydrate, as needed.” But the bill died after being heard by an Assembly committee.

Business and trade groups fought against the planned regulations, arguing that employers are already required to protect workers under the general duty clause and that additional regulations could incur costs or fines on businesses if they are found noncompliant.

For more than three years, state regulators have worked with industries to create regulations that protect workers from heat illness, with little success and a lot of push back.

Last summer, the Nevada Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) adopted a federal program meant to advise Nevada businesses on how to protect workers from heat illness and injuries. But advocates say those standards are only suggestions and regulators have no power to force employers to protect workers from heat illnesses. 

“There’s no law that obligates employers to provide protections to employees. If a worker isn’t being provided water the process to remedy that is really difficult. That’s why we need a law that obligates them to follow those OSHA recommendations to give workers water, shade, and rest,” said Eleazar Castellanos, an authorized OSHA trainer and Arriba Las Vegas Workers Center advocate, in his native Spanish.

More workers than ever are interested in learning more about their rights as employees, said Castellanos.

“They want to know how to protect themselves. They know what's happening at work, and they know there is no law to fix their situation. So they want to know how to prevent these illnesses before they experience them,” he said.