Gov. Greg Abbott approved this week a law that will eliminate city and county ordinances like Austin and Dallas’ mandated water breaks. Texas is one of the states where most workers die from high temperatures.
What I find crazy is, they acknowledge we are headed into probably the hottest season Texas has ever seen. And they pass this claiming OSHA should cover this sort of thing…okay, and in the mean time?? From the time this goes into effect and the time OSHA says anything about this, how many people will be denied a water break because “the law doesn’t say you get one anymore”. I’d argue that this law ENCOURGES employers to do the minimum of absolutely nothing.
What I find crazy is, they acknowledge we are headed into probably the hottest season Texas has ever seen. And they pass this claiming OSHA should cover this sort of thing…okay, and in the mean time?? From the time this goes into effect and the time OSHA says anything about this, how many people will be denied a water break because “the law doesn’t say you get one anymore”. I’d argue that this law ENCOURGES employers to do the minimum of absolutely nothing.