US President Joe Biden on Monday ordered his administration to seek ways to ensure people are protected from extreme heat, including through work-related rules and other cooling efforts.
Biden, in a statement, said various federal government departments and agencies would ensure Americans "have safe and healthy working conditions, provide cooling assistance to homes and neighborhoods, and coordinate with state and local officials to bolster their resilience and address the impacts of this threat."
At the center of the interagency effort, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will develop a rule-making process to create a workplace heat standard.
The order comes as public health and environmental groups have put pressure on the administration to create enforceable standards for outdoor workers exposed to extreme heat, at a time when the number of high heat days is projected to increase significantly due to climate change.