Health care providers are not required to report heat-related deaths, so there are no real numbers on how many people have died from organ failure or cardiac arrest due to the heat. The CDC reported 1,600 deaths in 2021, but the numbers are estimated to be significantly higher.
Consider warehouses. Sheet metal buildings with no windows or circulating air. Fans, when present, do little more than move the the stifling air, rendering the "solution" useless. As one former Amazon warehouse worker explained, "I have been nauseous, dizzy, and my shirt is soaked in sweat three to four times during my shift."
Sadly, companies are arguing that 87º is a fair threshold of indoor heat. There's only one problem with that -- it isn't!
Mix 87º environmental heat with the exertional heat of the industrial athlete, and you've got a recipe for a life-threatening disaster called heat stroke. In fact, exertional heat alone can incite heat stress. Workers reports nosebleeds, nausea and dizziness.
Thankfully, California is fighting the fight for the rest of us. The state is fighting to lower heat thresholds while also holding companies accountable to heat-safety regulations. As California goes, so goes the nation -- let's do whatever we can to support the changes that will affect us all -- even if it's just to make some noise.