Arizona Outdoor Workers Face Another Heat Summer Without State Protections

Millions Work in Dangerous Heat Without State-Level Safety Rules

Temperatures in the Phoenix area climb above 100 degrees 111 days out of the year on average. More than 1 million people in Arizona work in jobs where they are regularly exposed to these extreme temperatures. Despite the widespread dangers, Arizona has never had state regulations specifically to protect workers from heat on the job.

You take a breath and feel the heat go into your lungs and your whole body, drying out your muscles. It is just indescribable.

This is how Trina David, a longtime crew chief at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, describes working in the Valley heat. David has worked at the airport for 18 years and has witnessed firsthand how dangerous these conditions can be.

Your shoes melt every summer walking across the tarmac because it is so hot.

Heat is the top weather-related killer in the United States. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates about 559 workers die from heat exposure on the job each year. Tens of thousands more are estimated to suffer illnesses or injuries related to heat.

Governor Hobbs Task Force Recommends Guidelines, But No Enforcement

In the spring, Governor Katie Hobbs convened a task force to make recommendations to the Industrial Commission of Arizona around workplace heat safety. The group of 24 Arizonans from industries including roofing, construction and firefighting submitted their findings in December 2025.

The task force recommended employers should:

• Create workplace heat illness prevention plans
• Provide potable water at no cost to workers
• Provide shade
• Encourage workers to take rest breaks
• Provide acclimatization periods
• Provide training to help workers stay safe in the heat

The task force also recommended exemptions for workplaces where employees are exposed to heat only for short periods and for emergency operations.

These commonsense recommendations focusing on access to water, shade, and rest will keep countless Arizonans out of harm s way.

But the recommendations did not specify if, or how, employers should be held accountable to those rules. Labor groups have already expressed concern that the recommended guidelines may lack meaningful measures to hold employers accountable.

The Industrial Commission Will Decide Next Week

Now the recommendations go before the full Industrial Commission of Arizona. Their review process is expected to begin during a public meeting this Thursday. The commission is a policy-making body that includes two members appointed by former Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, and three members appointed by Gov. Hobbs, a Democrat.

While the recommendations before the commission still do not include enforcement measures that would make heat safety mandatory in workplaces, labor groups still hope the commission might opt to begin a rulemaking process to establish a state heat standard under which employers could be penalized for failing to take certain precautions around heat.

This is absolutely a matter of life or death. We needed this rule 10 years ago; we need it today. It was 90 degrees at the end of February and workers cannot wait.

This is what day laborer Tony Pineda testified at an ADOSH advisory committee meeting. The committee voted unanimously to advance the governor s heat task force recommendations as written, without adding a recommendation for enforcement measures. The vote disappointed labor groups.

None of us sit here thinking that we do not understand the need, or that we do not understand that something needs to be done, however there is a process.

ADOSH advisory committee co-chair Amber Pappas cautioned that rulemaking to establish new state heat regulations would be complicated.

Some Employers Already Take Precautions

Some Arizona employers already take precautions around heat. Rosendin Electric does work for huge industrial projects including solar farms and data centers. A lot of those construction sites get hot, so the company makes preventing heat illness among workers a major priority.

The company consolidated a lot of its pre-fabrication work in a big warehouse in Mesa so that workers can spend more time in the air conditioning. When work does have to move outdoors, management tries to take weather forecasts into account when planning jobs.

The company sets up tents or fans around worksites to keep workers cool and provides employees with water and sometimes even ice cream. Heat safety is also part of the company s training.

Once we start escalating above 80 degrees we start looking at that as our threshold, or action level.

Shayne Stevens, the company s senior health, safety and environmental director, said if the state ever did adopt enforceable rules, Rosendin Electric s Arizona branch would welcome it. He is confident the company s policies would meet or exceed whatever the state might require.

Cities Have Limited Protections

Arizona does have some local-level workplace heat safety rules already in place. The cities of Phoenix, Tucson and Tempe, along with Pima County over the last couple of years have adopted heat safety ordinances for city or county employees and contractors. But those ordinances apply only to narrow groups of workers, and some workers say the ordinances lack teeth.

I would like to see real protections that companies will follow and accountability for companies that do not.

Trina David continues to demand more protections than what the city-level ordinance offers.

Federal Standards Stalled

At the federal level, OSHA has been pursuing a heat safety standard under the Biden administration. But there is no clear timeline for OSHA to take action to implement the federal heat standard.

OSHA has been decimated by cuts made early in the Trump administration.

This is what David Michaels, professor at the George Washington University Milken Center, said when discussing the federal effort.

Seven Other States Have Heat Standards

California has regulated workplace heat safety for more than 20 years, enforcing requirements for water, shade, and heat illness training. Dean and his coauthors found those rules are saving lives.

California and six other states have now adopted state-level standards for workplace heat safety. Arizona, known for its extreme climate, should be next according to labor groups.

Research shows regulations can save lives. Heat standards can significantly reduce worker deaths, according to Adam Dean, one of the study s authors from George Washington University.

Governments looking to protect these workers need to pass these laws but to make sure they are enforced and that worksites are inspected to protect the most vulnerable workers among us.

But whatever the commission might do will likely take more time. So for now, Arizona s outdoor workers are heading into another summer without any specific protections from the heat.