Maryland plans new protections for workers during extreme heat

BALTIMORE -- The dangers of extreme heat can put workers' lives at risk. But changes could be coming soon in Maryland to offer more protections.

A new plan from the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health is days away from possible publication and becoming effective.

Maryland is on the path to become the first state on the East Coast to adopt a standard for heat illness prevention. This is monumental because it can help ensure more protections are in place for all Maryland workers in both public and private sectors.

The concern of heat related injuries and deaths are heightened in Baltimore as an investigation is still ongoing into the death of Ronald Silver II. He was a Baltimore DPW trash collector who died on the job from hyperthermia in early August.

Maryland Occupational Safety And Health was tasked in 2020 by the General Assembly to start working on a draft of this plan to determine more regulation to address heat related illnesses. In July, the Maryland Heat Illness Prevention Standard Development draft was published in the Maryland Registrar.

What does the heat protection plan look like?

The plan calls for employers to give workers breaks and water when temperatures are reaching the extreme. For example, if temperatures reach 90 degrees or higher, employers will need to give workers a 10-minute break every two hours.

The plan also requires employers to have heat stress training and have some prevention forethought. Employers will need to write a prevention strategy plan to clearly explain to employees what they need to do to avoid extreme heat-induced illnesses.

Maryland Commissioner of Labor and Industry Devki Virk said this plan was designed to give employers some flexibility. For instance, allowing the employer to determine the location at their workplace for their employees to cool down. 

Virk said while some businesses are already complying with prevention strategies, this plan ensures baseline protections for workers across the state.

"These are protections that employees should be able to count on," she said. "No matter what kind of work they perform. If they are exposed to these hazards there should be a certain baseline level of protection for them and that is what the proposed rule does."

In August, business owners and workers had the chance to sound off on the plan and express their concerns.

Virk said workers voiced their worry about how to measure the temperature in the work area and how to ensure a proper area is dedicated to taking meaningful breaks. Some also expressed fear of retaliation from an employer if they take breaks. 

With hotter and humid heat waves becoming more frequent globally, Virk said the plan is vital.

"As high temperatures become more frequent and higher, that creates greater exposures to greater numbers of employees in different industries that might not have had that level of exposure or that frequency of exposure before," she said. "And of course, creates more risks for employees."

Blueprint for widespread heat protection standards

There are five other states in the nation that have some type of worker protections for the heat.

But Maryland's plan could be the blueprint for widespread state standards on heat illness prevention.  This could lead to Maryland becoming the first state on the East Coast to do this.

The goal with this new plan is to help raise awareness about how dangerous extreme heat can be for all Marylanders at a place of work.

The plan is now in the final stages. The committee requested to have the plan published Friday.

If that is granted, then the new plan will take effect at the end of this month.