Idaho, Oregon take different approaches to worker heat deaths

‘Few and far between’

In the summer of 2021, Oregon saw 109 heat-related deaths, according to a report from the Oregon Health Authority. Between May and August of that year, the state had a 242% increase in heat-related visits to emergency and urgent care departments over the same period in 2020, the report said. 

Since Brown’s executive order and the subsequent permanent OSHA rules, heat-related deaths in Oregon have decreased. In 2022, just 22 people died from heat. In 2023 eight people died, despite many 100-degree days and increasing average temperatures in the state. 

Brown said she is confident the new OSHA rules have saved people’s lives. 

“I think that work we did is a model for the country,” she said. 

Idaho saw 11 heat-related deaths in 2021; and so far this summer, five people have died from heat-related illnesses, the same number as in 2023. The number of heat-related deaths in Idaho are lower than in Oregon, where there are more than double the number of agricultural and construction workers. 

Five states have adopted their own specific heat-protection laws: Washington, Minnesota, California, Oregon and Colorado.

States can choose to create their own individual OSHA plans to pass laws to protect outside workers from heat-related illnesses or other hazards. To do so, a state must write and pass legislation that is at least as effective as the OSHA federal rules. The state must also fund half of the state plan and ask the federal government for the other half. 

A state plan must also cover federal employees, while OSHA federal rules only apply to private sector workers. 

State plans allow states to target other issues facing workers. For example, California’s plan protects workers from lead exposure at work and from workplace violence, and New York’s plan requires emergency escape and self-rescue ropes and system components for firefighters, among other workplace requirements. 

Kearns, the federal OSHA official for the Boise area, said there are a lot of factors that may prevent a state from adopting its own stricter rules for employers. 

“I can’t tell you what [states are] thinking and what’s happening in the political climate and budgetary climate of each of those states,” he said. “But I think it’s pretty obvious that cost would be a potential factor.” 

Guthrie said he doesn’t see Idaho lawmakers taking up the issue.

“In a conservative state like Idaho, I don’t see an issue like that getting traction,” he said. “It would really have to thread the needle [between business and worker interests].” 

Guthrie also wondered if there would be enough enforcement of the rules to give the policy “teeth.” In Oregon, Brown agreed that rules are only worthwhile if enforcement is good. In Idaho, there are just nine OSHA investigators to cover every employer in the state. 

“If I get a group of [employers] wanting to do the right thing, for the right reasons, I usually try to ask them to do their part and to be leaders, because we are few and far between,” Kearns said. 

Since September 2020, the Region 10 OSHA office, which covers Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho, received just six complaints from employees related to extreme heat in their workplaces. OSHA did not issue any fines for wrongdoing in any of the six cases. 

Worker advocates say it is rare for many workers, especially undocumented workers, to submit formal complaints against their employers because of fear of retaliation or of being seen as not wanting to work. Idaho workers may still be able to hold out hope for greater protections against extreme heat. President Joe Biden in July proposed a new federal OSHA rule that would require employers to develop an injury and illness prevention plan for workplaces affected by excessive heat. The plan would implement requirements for mandatory rest breaks in extreme heat. 

However, the rule isn’t expected to go into effect until 2026. An unofficial version of the rule was published online, and an official version is awaiting publication in the Federal Register, which contains new and amended versions of federal regulations. OSHA also must accept public comments on the rule before finalizing it. 

The Washington Post reported that the upcoming presidential election could also change the course of the federal rules. If Donald Trump is elected, the Post said, it is likely that the rulemaking would stall.