No one running for governor has as much experience leading the state, but in a year when many voters are feeling surly, does the former House speaker’s success make her vulnerable?
No one running for governor has as much experience leading the state, but in a year when many voters are feeling surly, does the former House speaker’s success make her vulnerable?
SALEM â New rules to protect workers laboring in excessive heat were enacted on Thursday, July 8, but some groups worry they wonât be enforced rigorously enough to prevent future deaths.
Gov. Kate Brown directed the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration to enact temporary rules, which include ensuring workersâ access to shade and cool drinking water when temperatures reach or exceed 80 degrees Fahrenheit. When temperatures rise above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, employers must also provide extra breaks or a cool-down period.
This response to calls for emergency rules to protect workers laboring outdoors followed a farmworkerâs death on a farm north of Salem on June 26. Sebastian Francisco Perez, 38, was moving irrigation lines on Ernst Nursery & Farms in St. Paul.
Heatwave sparks emergency rule July 09 2021
Oregon OSHA adopts emergency rule to protect workers from the dangers of high and extreme heat.
Oregon OSHA announced Thursday that it adopted an emergency rule aimed at protecting workers from the dangers of high and extreme heat.
The temporary rule takes effect immediately and remains in place for 180 days, during which time framers will be working on a permanent heat-stress prevention rule anticipated to be adopted in the fall.
The temporary rule was adopted following direction from Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to enact emergency measures. It comes in the wake of an extreme, record-breaking heatwave that claimed more than 100 lives in Oregon, including Sebastian Francisco Perez, who died while working on a tree farm in St. Paul during the height of that heatwave.
This response to calls for emergency rules to protect workers laboring outdoors followed a farmworker’s death on a farm north of Salem on June 26. Sebastian Francisco Perez, 38, was moving irrigation lines on Ernst Nursery & Farms in St. Paul.
In a press release statement, advocacy groups PCUN, Renew Oregon, Northwest Justice Workers Project, and Oregon Environmental Council, said they will continue to inform workers of their workplace rights and push for permanent protections.
It’s crucial that we continue to take steps towards long term policy shifts in our state, that take climate change, and workers safety seriously,” PCUN Executive Director Reyna Lopez said. “That means creating standards that keep people safe, while engaging stakeholders in climate policy that will allow our communities to be healthy, and thrive in the long term.”