The Biden administration’s first-ever worker protections for heat proposed two weeks ago followed decades of campaigning from advocates and unions.
What changed over that time may seem obvious: It’s gotten hotter.
“It took 40 years of advocates and scientists and industrial hygienists saying we need to do something on heat, with nothing happening,” said Anastasia Christman, senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. “And then all of a sudden, we’ve had these extreme heat events that have made everyone more aware of heat and how dangerous it is.”
Indeed, the average heat wave now lasts four days — a full day longer than back in the 1960s, according to EPA data. An average of just two heat waves a year occurred back then. That number has tripled in the 2020s. As duration and frequency have increased, so has intensity.
