当气温达到华氏90度（约32摄氏度）的炎炎夏日，埃丝特·明顿上班时仍穿着长袖衬衫。
When it’s 90F on a hot summer day, Esther Minton wears a long-sleeved shirt to work.
“在户外作业，没有遮蔽物。如果你在屋顶或建筑物侧面作业，根本无处可去，”纽约市钣金工人地方工会28分会成员明顿说。“阳光整天直射皮肤，你根本撑不住，所以穿什么很有讲究。”在酷热的夏季户外工作，意味着要学会如何正确补水，应对比外界气温高得多的移动厕所，以及处理暴晒后滚烫的铜制金属。
“Working outside, you don’t have cover. There’s nowhere for you to really go if you’re on a roof or if you’re on the side of a building,” said Minton, a member of the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 28 in New York City. “Having the sun beaming on your skin all day long, you’ll never make it through, so what you wear makes a difference.” Working outside during the brutal summer months means learning how to stay properly hydrated, dealing with port-a-potties that get much hotter than outside temperatures and handling heated copper metals exposed to direct sunlight.
“一天还没结束，等到午休时间——比如中午12点，太阳正毒的时候——你已经精疲力竭了，”明顿说。“你的身体在拼命降温，在拼命对抗脱水。”这个夏天是美国有记录以来最热的夏天，工人们正处于一场预计将推高热相关疾病和死亡人数的高温危机的最前线。
“Before the day is over, by the time you’re at break at lunchtime – say 12pm, when the sun is really out and doing its thing – you are drained,” Minton said. “Your body fights hardcore to stay cool, your body fights hard to not be dehydrated.” This summer was the hottest on record in the US, and workers are caught on the frontlines of a heat crisis that is expected to drive up heat-related illnesses and deaths.
气温升高之际，特朗普政府和国会共和党人正在撤销旨在保护工人免受高温伤害和疾病的联邦规定。
“Before the day is over, by the time you’re at break at lunchtime – say 12pm, when the sun is really out and doing its thing – you are drained,” Minton said. “Your body fights hardcore to stay cool, your body fights hard to not be dehydrated.” This summer was the hottest on record in the US, and workers are caught on the frontlines of a heat crisis that is expected to drive up heat-related illnesses and deaths.
2025年1月，白宫无限期冻结了拜登时代的高温安全法规，该法规本将强制要求为工人提供水、阴凉处、休息时间、培训和预防计划。
The rising temperatures come as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are rolling back federal rules meant to protect workers from heat injury and illnesses.
众议院共和党人也在推动立法，禁止劳工部制定任何针对高温暴露的工作场所保护措施。佛罗里达州和德克萨斯州的共和党人通过了类似立法，禁止地方市县政府通过高温保护条例。
In January 2025, the White House indefinitely froze Biden-era heat safety regulations that would have mandated water, shade, breaks, training and prevent plans for workers.
包括农业和建筑业在内的大型商业团体和游说者强烈反对针对工人的高温防护标准，声称雇主已经在做法规将强制要求的事情，并称该规则将给雇主带来负担。
House Republicans have also been pushing legislation that would prohibit the Department of Labor from enacting any workplace protections for heat exposure. Republicans in Florida and Texas have passed similar legislation prohibiting local city and county governments from passing heat protections.
在最近于纽约市举行的气候周圆桌会议上，工人们强烈反对雇主正在采取足够措施保护工人免受高温侵害这一观点。
Big business groups and lobbyists, including from the agricultural and construction industries, have strongly opposed heat protection standards for workers, claiming employers already do what would be mandated and claim the rule would be a burden on employers.
372分会执行副主席、前学校食堂工人唐纳德·内斯比特回忆说，他曾在一栋老旧校舍的地下室厨房里度过一个个夏天，为学生们准备餐食。
Workers at a recent Climate Week roundtable in New York City strongly disagreed employers are doing enough to protect workers from heat.
“那简直是折磨。在这些夏季条件下，我们测得学校厨房的温度高达130华氏度到140华氏度（约54摄氏度到60摄氏度），”内斯比特在圆桌会议上说。“如果我们把动物关在同等条件的车里，我们会被逮捕，对吧？然而工人们却在这些条件下工作，所以必须要有保护措施。我们作为一个社会必须推动建立更好的保护措施。”
Donald Nesbit, executive vice-president of Local 372 and former school cafeteria worker, recalled working in an old school building every summer in a kitchen basement as he prepared meals for students.
目前，只有七个州制定了针对工人的可强制执行的防暑标准。2025年12月发表在《Health Affairs》期刊上的一项研究发现，加利福尼亚州的户外防暑保护措施自2010年以来已使与高温相关的工作场所死亡人数至少减少了33%。
“It was torture. We clocked temperatures at 130F to 140F in school kitchens during these summer conditions,” said Nesbit during the roundtable. “If we were to lock our animals in a car with those same conditions, we would be arrested, right? And yet, workers are working in those conditions, right, so there [have] to be protections. We have to push as a society to make protections better.” Currently, only seven states have enforceable heat prevention standards in place for workers. A December 2025 a study published in the journal Health Affairs found California’s outdoor heat protections had resulted in at least a 33% reduction in heat-related workplace fatalities since 2010.
“这个国家需要联邦防暑标准，”纽约市经济正义副市长、拜登政府前劳工部长朱莉·苏说。
“We need a federal heat standard in this country,” said Julie Su, deputy mayor of New York City for economic justice and former secretary of labor under Biden. In June, Su and Zohran Mamdani, New York City mayor, issued heat protections for New York City workers, citing the White House’s pullback.
6月，苏和纽约市市长扎赫兰·马姆达尼发布了针对纽约市工人的防暑保护措施，理由是白宫的退缩。
“We need a federal heat standard in this country,” said Julie Su, deputy mayor of New York City for economic justice and former secretary of labor under Biden. In June, Su and Zohran Mamdani, New York City mayor, issued heat protections for New York City workers, citing the White House’s pullback.
“我们曾有一项提案，但政府没有推进。还有很多州有标准，而纽约州没有，”苏说。“在市一级，我们正利用掌握的一切权力做我们能做的一切。”
“We had one proposed and the administration is not moving on it. There are also lots of states that have a standard, and New York does not have one,” Su said. “In the city, we are doing everything we can with the powers that we have.” The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) estimates over 550 US workers die and nearly 28,000 are injured annually from heat exposure. Heat has caused more than 2,300 deaths in the US in 2023 and 2024 combined, the highest numbers in 45 years of records, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
职业安全与健康管理局（OSHA）估计，每年有超过550名美国工人因高温暴露死亡，近28,000人受伤。根据疾病控制与预防中心的数据，2023年和2024年两年合计，高温在美国造成了超过2,300人死亡，为45年有记录以来的最高数字。
“We had one proposed and the administration is not moving on it. There are also lots of states that have a standard, and New York does not have one,” Su said. “In the city, we are doing everything we can with the powers that we have.” The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) estimates over 550 US workers die and nearly 28,000 are injured annually from heat exposure. Heat has caused more than 2,300 deaths in the US in 2023 and 2024 combined, the highest numbers in 45 years of records, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
劳工部发言人在一封电子邮件中表示：“职业安全与健康管理局（OSHA）目前正在审查关于拟议规则‘室外和室内工作场所热伤害和疾病预防’的公开听证会意见。OSHA为雇主提供合规协助，涉及潜在工作场所危害，包括关于如何在高温环境下保障员工安全的指导。”
A spokesperson for the Department of Labor said in an email: “OSHA is currently reviewing comments from the public hearings on the proposed rule ‘Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings.’ OSHA provides compliance assistance to employers regarding potential workplace hazards, including guidance on how to keep employees safe in the heat.”