Agricultural workers in the south of New Mexico work hours before dawn during the heat waves to harvest Chile peppers. Despite the heat, oil field workers attract strong equipment to drive to removed drilling points that spread over the Perm basin of the state. Teachers do a failed air conditioning in classrooms.
New Mexico's professional health and security office is looking for better protection for these workers because the country of enchantment becomes hotter. The proposed thermal protection rule was introduced this spring. The office, which is part of the New Mexico Environment Department (Ned), accepted this week during three Outreach events. The state's environmental improvement committee will prevent a public hearing for the rule in July and, if it is accepted, come into force in August.
The Federal and Health Authority (OSHA) has proposed a federal rule to prevent heat injuries and diseases as part of the bidden administration. However, it is unlikely that it will make progress during the Trump presidency. New Mexico would be the eighth state that adopted standards for the protection of employees from extreme heat to states such as California and Oregon. Proponents in New Mexico say it is time for the state to take over its own rule when the temperatures rise.
“Our workers now need protection,” said Shelley Mann-Lev, the managing director of Healthy Climate New Mexico. “We can't afford to wait another summer.”
Mann-Lev added: “We are enthusiastic that NMED has presented a solid, science-based standard.”
However, numerous public comments from the construction and restaurant industries as well as the republican legislators of the states say that the proposed rule is stressful and that business development in New Mexico will hinder.
“I don't think the environmental department provides enough evidence,” said Rebecca Dow, a Republican who represents agricultural areas in the south of New Mexico. “I want a study that shows that this extreme rule … is the only method to reduce the heating strike.”
She added: “I am very concerned about the construction costs, the costs for food.”
Usually reacts to the rapid rapid temperatures in New Mexico
New Mexico experiences the effects of climate change, from rising temperatures to increased forest fire risk and extreme drought. The summer of 2024 was the hottest summer in Las Cruces in the south of New Mexico. According to the non -profit climate in Central, the summer temperatures in Las Cruces have increased on average by 5.4 degrees.
In its petition to create a heat sail at work
The office reported that I have received 232 heat -related complaints from employees since the national focus of Osha for heat -related injuries and illnesses. The New Mexico Ministry of Health also documented over 900 visits to the emergency room from the heat exposure in 2023, of which 120 seemed to be work -related.
The design of the rule covers both indoor and outdoor workers. Protocols would get in. As soon as the temperatures increase over a heat index of 80 degrees. Employers would have to develop a heat disease and a prevention plan for injuries. The recently assigned workers assigned to the areas of high heating would also have to go through a time of acclimatization, a process that can save lives. The employees gave the example of a worker who moved from a cooler area to New Mexico, which was gradually introduced to the working conditions during the heat.
The rule also requires cool drinking water and shadow structures at jobs. Breaks would be required as soon as the heat index is 95 degrees for heavy work and is longer proportional with increasing temperature proportionally. The estimated office could cost around 16,800 US dollars a year as an example of a company that employs 10 outdoor employees. However, employees of the employees could lead to cost savings for employers, in the form of avoided employee compensation claims and medical expenses.
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New Mexico would join California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, who have already used state protective measures for workers during the extreme heat.
It is expected that federal lawsuits against thermal insulation during the Trump administration. A hearing of the representative committee at the beginning of this month focused on what republican representatives Osha described in the proposed rule violation and prevention rule as “persuasion”. The Osha has also lost 10 percent of its employees since Trump took office when the workers accepted the early retirement of the administration, according to a former deputy deputy secretary of Osha.
Public comments reflect industry problems and work support
NMED accepts comments on the proposed rule by May 30th. In addition to the comments that were hosted in Albuquerque, and practically in Albuquerque, dozens of comments were submitted online at the events of this week.
A teacher at the public schools in Albuquerque wrote that the swamp cooler or evaporative cooler broke in his portable classroom. He said the temperature in the portable rose to 100 degrees and he had ended up in the hospital with extreme dehydration.
“Conclusion. Heat is a security problem for employees and students in schools,” he wrote. “We need this rule.”
James Cobb, President of United Steel Workers Local 12-9477 in Carlsbad, also commented on the rule.
“Without consistent protective measures, workers are too often too often to ensure dangerously high temperatures and to risk dehydration, heat creation, heat stroke and even death,” he wrote.
Public comments submitted by 24 Republican legislators called for “a voluntary program that really concerns the heat disease and the security issues of employees without the high hand of the state government's mandates.”
“We are not convinced that a new series of state regulations have positive effects on the health of employees, although this will have significant negative effects on efficiency on construction sites and that employer costs will increase,” the legislature wrote.
The New Mexico Restaurant Association is one of the industry organizations that have spoken out against the rule. His CEO, Carol Wight, said in the Climate News that they want restaurants to be removed. She said that the proposed mandatory breaks and acclimatization requirements would interfere with surgical challenges for restaurants and the streams of faults.
She said that a “one -size pass all” approach was no sense, and the association would rather work with NMED to “develop practical, flexible solutions that protect workers without bankrupt company”.
“This rule will damage small companies, disrupt the service and increase the costs of a problem that is hardly available in restaurants,” she said.
With increasing temperatures, the restaurants across the country are among those who push for protection.
As soon as the public commentary period has been completed next week, the next steps for the rule for the environmental improvement committee will lie, whose seven members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
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Martha Pskowski
Reporter, El Paso, Texas
Martha Pskowski covers climate change and the environment in Texas from its base in El Paso. Before that, she was an environmental reporter at El Paso Times. She started her career as a freelance journalist in Mexico and reported for outlets such as The Guardian and Yale E360. Martha has a BA in environmental studies from Hampshire College and a master's degree in journalism and Latin American studies at New York University. She is a former Fulbright Research Fellow in Mexico. Martha can be reached at PSSKOW on the signal. 33.