BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) has announced plans to join union members from the United Farm Workers (UFW) and the Kern, Inyo, and Mono Counties Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO to announce his legislation to implement federal enforceable workplace heat stress protections.
According to a release, Senator Padilla plans to introduce the the Asunción Valdivia Heat, Illness, Injury and Fatality Prevention Act, which will aim to implement heat stress protections at the federal level.
“Last month was the hottest month on record, putting 170 million Americans under extreme heat alerts and creating increasingly dangerous conditions for workers,” the release read. “Padilla will highlight his bill, the Asunción Valdivia Heat, Illness, Injury and Fatality Prevention Act, to protect the safety and health of workers who are exposed to dangerous heat conditions in the workplace.”
According to the release, the legislation is named in honor of Asunción Valdivia, a California farm worker who died in 2004 after picking grapes for ten hours straight in 105-degree temperatures.
The announcement comes after Senator Padilla and his colleagues recently led 112 members of Congress to call on the Biden Administration to implement an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace federal heat standard. The release said the senator urged OSHA to model the federal standard after the provisions in his Asunción Valdivia Heat Stress Injury, Illness, and Fatality Prevention Act.
Senator Padilla also recently introduced the Preventing Health Emergencies and Temperature-related (HEAT) Illness and Deaths Act with his colleagues to address the rising health risks of extreme heat, which includes the establishment of a $100,000,000 federal financial assistance program to fund community projects that reduce the health impact of extreme heat events.
For more information on the Asunción Valdivia Heat, Illness, Injury and Fatality Prevention Act, click here.
