SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
This summer in California, there was big news. People who work indoors in places like warehouses and restaurants were getting protections from working in dangerous heat. The next step - getting information about the new rules out to the people who need it most. Alejandra Borunda with NPR's climate desk went to Oakland for one of the first training sessions introducing workers to the new policy.
ALEJANDRA BORUNDA, BYLINE: A small group of men and women sit in a circle in a classroom near the Oakland waterfront. They introduce themselves by acting out their favorite hobbies.
ANTON LUTE: My name is Anton Lute, and I like to...
(SOUNDBITE OF PENCIL TAPPING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Drumming.
LUTE: Make beats.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Beat maker.
LUTE: Make beats.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: He's a music man.
DERRICK CROCKETT: Hi. I'm Derrick Crockett, and I like to...
(SOUNDBITE OF HAND THUMPING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Play cards.
CROCKETT: Dominos. Yeah.
BORUNDA: They're here to learn about California's new rule that it requires employers to keep people who work indoors safe from extreme heat. Only one other state in the country has anything like it, and there's no federal rule protecting people. Yet millions work in places like warehouses or industrial laundries, and they deal with dangerous heat all the time, especially as human-caused climate change makes hot weather even hotter. Alejandra Domenzain works with the Labor Occupational Health Program at the University of California Berkeley. She's leading this training.
ALEJANDRA DOMENZAIN: All right. So this is what we're going to do today. We want to make sure that you know how to identify heat hazards.
BORUNDA: And she wants to make sure that the group knows what the rules are so they can advocate for themselves and their colleagues. When temperatures get into the 80s, workers get breaks and water. When it gets into the upper 80s, employers have to cool things down or at least give workers a cool break space. More than a million Californians are now covered by the rule, including everyone in this room. Domenzain lays out the stakes.
DOMENZAIN: There's actually people that die from heat illness every year. So we don't want you to be one of them or even anywhere close to that.
BORUNDA: Daniel Christopher is already painfully aware.
DANIEL CHRISTOPHER: Me and heat don't get along.
BORUNDA: He lives in Contra Costa County. He worked for years in the oil and gas industry. Once he was on a job in the San Joaquin Valley when things got dire.
CHRISTOPHER: Being in sun, three, four, five hours, no air circulation, no shade. And you stop sweating.
BORUNDA: That's heat stroke. He's describing heat stroke.
CHRISTOPHER: We get home, and it's like, cold showers, Gatorade, and your core is still hot. And ice cold showers - you don't even feel - it doesn't even feel like anything.
BORUNDA: Christopher always thought it was a risk he just had to take working outside.
CHRISTOPHER: Me and a co-worker of mine - we joke about it to this day. We still stay in touch. We almost died out there. It was that bad.
BORUNDA: But at the time, there weren't rules protecting even outdoor workers like them. Those came into existence later and are in place in California now but not in most other states.
CHRISTOPHER: Jobs got to get done. I have a workload for today. You don't have a choice. Either that, or you just quit.
BORUNDA: Christopher says it was a welcome surprise to hear about California's new indoor heat rules. Anton Lute was also excited.
LUTE: We'll be able to help other people who weren't in this classroom, and we'll be knowledgeable enough to let - to help them in heat situations.
BORUNDA: To do that, the group practices how they push back on bosses who don't follow the rules. Lute plays an overheated worker. Christopher plays the bad boss.
LUTE: I'm dizzy.
CHRISTOPHER: Yeah.
LUTE: I'm mumbling.
CHRISTOPHER: Well, don't fall off...
LUTE: I'm distraught.
CHRISTOPHER: Well, don't fall off the (inaudible).
LUTE: Give me some medical attention. Who we going to call? Ghostbusters.
BORUNDA: Actually, they're probably going to call the union or health inspectors, but now they know that they can call someone. Domenzain sums it up.
DOMENZAIN: Yeah. I mean, this is - you get one body, right? You get one life.
BORUNDA: The Occupational Health and Safety Administration is working on a nationwide heat rule for indoor and outdoor workers. But experts say it's probably years away. But for these 10 California workers, at least they've got the tools to be a little bit safer in the heat now.
Alejandra Borunda, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2PAC SONG, "KEEP YA HEAD UP") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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