Texas 'Death Star Bill' could leave construction workers 'fatigued, disoriented, dehydrated': report - Alternet.org
By: Maya Boddie
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation earlier this week that "poses serious health risks" to construction workers, Texas Public Radio (TPR) reports.
Per TPR, HB 2127 — known as the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act — "bars cities and counties from passing regulations that are stricter than state ones. It also overturns local rules such as ordinances in Austin and Dallas that mandate rest breaks for construction workers."
Republican State Rep. Dustin Burrows, who proposed the "Death Star Bill," insisted "the law is needed to end 'the current hodgepodge of onerous and burdensome regulations,'" but TPR notes "for construction workers in two of the state's fastest-growing cities, advocates say, it poses serious health risks."
Mario Ontiveros told TPR "he once saw a co-worker lose consciousness and fall from a ladder," and due to his previous "safety training," the Texas construction worker "was the only one on the job site who knew how to help — performing CPR and asking his co-worker basic questions to keep him conscious — until paramedics arrived, he said."
The Texas Tribune reports:
Texas is the state where the most workers die from high temperatures, government data shows. At least 42 workers died in Texas between 2011 and 2021 from environmental heat exposure, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers' unions claim this data doesn't fully reflect the magnitude of the problem because heat-related deaths are often recorded under a different primary cause of injury.
Furthermore, according to TPR, "Research published in 2018 — eight years after Austin passed its rest-break ordinance — found that construction workers were 35% more likely to get a break because of the rule."
Daniela Hernandez, state legislative coordinator for Texas advocacy group Workers Defense Action Fund, said, "We know that workers do pass out and experience heat stress and different types of heat illnesses."
Paul Puente, executive secretary of the Houston Gulf Coast Building and Construction Trades Council, said the "Death Star Bill" is expected to "strike down construction-worker protections in southeast Texas," and "negatively impact construction safety as a whole," even though "labor unions can still negotiate for rest breaks."
He emphasized "Science has already shown that individuals need to have time to take a break, collect their thoughts, and then return back to work to ensure a safe working environment," and "Without allotted rest breaks in extreme heat," he told TPR "workers can easily become fatigued, disoriented, dehydrated — effects that endanger their lives."
Calling the state "unsafe" for construction workers, Puente added, "when you're trying to encourage businesses to come to your state, this is not a good look."
TPR reports the law is set to go into effect Sept. 1.
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Central government. One cannot pass rules and regulations that go against dear leaders...
gee, I wonder why his savior didn't keep that tree from falling on him...
When I was stationed at Reese AFB, TX (Lubbock) we did an hourly WBGT reading (wet bulb globe temperature). That reading took into account the ambient air temperature, the humidity, and wind speed. We then reported it to HQ and the Fire Department where HQ would send out a verbal message over the Giant Voice for outside workers such as flightline and construction crews. The Fire Department needed the information for incident response.
Houston gets hot and humid in the summer months. I imagine the WBGT getting well over the hundreds in the afternoon. People are going to get sick
I have seen people get heatstroke down here. Can be scary.
It can happen anywhere. It gets very hot and humid where you live
They have added splash pads at various locations around here for people and their kids to escape some of the heat.
Why does the wind blow from the North to South?
Because Texas SUCKS!
Make science your friend. Usually, in the USA, and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, prevailing winds blow from west to east rather than north-south. This happens because Earth's rotation generates the Coriolis effect.
FRckn ridiculous. I spent most of half a century battling the extremes of exterior work environments, and i sure as hell made surethere was always adequate rehydration ( and not Just Beer) available for any and all of my employees !
Apparently you think these current workers don't have sense enough to take breaks or stay hydrated?
If the company doesn't allow them breaks......
Are you for the state not letting cities and municipalities make their own rules?
apparently you are not appointed to think for me, thank something. Ive seen employers and corporations squeeze any and everything to reach that ever lower bottom line. They most certainly will abuse this. They always have, and will continue to, and it is just stupid in this case, but , so are they.
Are you for the Federal government not letting states, cities, and municipalities make their own rules?
I think states and municipalities should be able to make their own laws as every place has different needs.
Medical matters are a different thing and I will not let be introduced.
... only if the results guarantee less political hypocrites.
In some cases, yeah. It can be chaos.
How so? What cases?
When local ordinance or rule unduly impinges on the rights of citizens.
For example....
Here in Dallas County, we have a County Judge named Clay Jenkins who, during COVID, issued an order basically putting almost all of Dallas County on house arrest. It was much more strict that the Texas rules or Fauci guidelines. After 60 days, he extended it. Basically, we were all supposed to stay in our homes until he felt better about us going outside. He also attempted a mandatory mask requirement, where people could be fined for going out without a mask. Like... even on the golf course.... It was complete overkill, but at the time that was very popular with liberals. Jenkins is generally a rational liberal (not like AOC or anything), but in this case, he was just overboard.
Abbott stepped in and issued an XO saying no county or city could make more stringent requirements on citizens than the state was already making. It was the right call at the time.
Any time of county or city-specific ordinance has a built in set of problems in a place like Dallas because it's just massive, massive, metropolitan sprawl and city or county lines ceased being significant 75 years ago. Half the time you don't know what county or city you're in at any given moment of your day, anyway, because everything just runs together. You know which county you live in, but the grocery store a half mile away may actually be in a different one.
Obviously, municipal governments need to have the latitude to set their own regulations, but they also need oversight if those regulations go too far.
As far as the mandatory break law, I can see arguments on both sides.
I had a lunch meeting today, and on my drive back to the office, I went through 4 different cities. Now.. imagine you're a small commercial plumber with 8 employees. You don't have HR staff to keep track of what rules are different in Dallas vs Arlington vs Plano vs Ft. Worth, and you'll probably have guys working in all those locations in any given week. Imagine you have a crew working a job in Mesquite and immediately afterward they drive across the street to Dallas for another. How can you possibly keep track of all that?
However... I can definitely see how you don't want the electricians working 10 straight hours installing panels or fixtures that could catch fire if it's done improperly.
Mask mandates? Really stretching to find something aren't we.
Interesting that you find a rule governing the behavior of individual citizens under penalty of law to be unimportant.
I doubt very seriously you would find it unimportant if you disagreed with it.
Amazing that you think measures to help people in a pandemic is some serious assault on civil rights.
If you want to talk about governing behavior, look no father than your own party.
You have nothing and I am done with this.
They should get the dumbass politicians to roof houses in San Antonio in July.
oh dear....
I went thru tech school at Brooks AFB in July....sheesh it was hot!
up on the roof, add at least 20 degrees to the temperature...
They would drop like flies. Granted, it isn't quite as hot where i work/worked, but it isn't enough to notice when you are on an asphalt black Built Up Roofing System, tearing it off, or possibly Torching a new one down. I would always have a water hose on site and usually on roof. If you did not wet down the new fiberglass/asphalt shingles being installed, you would damage them. I'm talking in temperatures as low as the 70's, for if the sun is on them, which 9 out of 10 times is usually the case, they remind me of fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies, that melt in your hands, not in his or her mouth, cause i know. I'm not in Bill B Cosby's league, but i was a ROOFER/Consultant and General Contractor for a LONG time.
Now just a homeless Nomad, but it's okay, cause as stated NoMad
My sister lives in San Antonio. She told me yesterday it 103 degrees with 70% humidity. That is pretty much hell on earth.
Yep, the real feel temp was about 114 I believe.
Glad you seeded this because I was getting ready to if no one else was.
The hypocrisy of this legislation should blow everyone’s mind. Is there another state in the Union that bitches more about big centralized government and praises local/individual liberty more than Texas? But now the Texas state government may be the most aggressively authoritative of any in the country.
And so now what are the chances the state legislature will pass regulations protecting people who work in the heat? I would guess it’s somewhere between zero and none.
It is almost like some have turned against what their original beliefs were.
No doubt, don't know how they can think that this isn't going to piss off blue collar workers across the state.
Perhaps Texas is different but I’ve been involved in construction off and on for nearly 50 years. SOP on virtually every job I was on and/or managed was a 15 minute break morning and afternoon.
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia. Same in all those states. More if weather dictated but proper hydration was pushed by any good foreman or project manager. Not aware of any laws that required all that but that’s the way it was.
And somehow we all survived.
Yeah, Texas is different as are New Mexico and Arizona as far as the heat goes. Most people that have lived down here for awhile get acclimated just like up there as far as the cold goes but triple digits are nothing anyone down here wants...
Yeah - today in Las Cruces, it only got up to 101 - tomorrow's supposed to be 104-106 with high heat index the balance of the week plus HHUUGGEE winds.
Well, Summer's almost here in NM
Ha, yeah I think tomorrow it's supposed to be 106 here. Las Cruces, at least you don't have the humidity we got here. Not that there's much difference when you break 100... your either in a convection oven or your getting sautéed.
And, if you're gonna play golf - DO IT EARLY - EARLY - EARLY. Chase them 'yotes and owls off the greens.
Every company I've worked for down here has had summer policies. Now, if those companies start changing policies cause they can then I would let my feet do the talking. Too many jobs out there now to spend time working for assholes.