“It's hot. For farmworkers without federal heat protections, it could be life or death”

…The heat dome that blanketed the Pacific Northwest in 2021 is being repeated across the southern U.S. this year. Record temperatures have engulfed states like Texas with no relief. Like that past summer for the Abalos family, the heat is hardest for the people who work in the unforgiving sun day after day…

The blazing hot temperatures, which lead to the deaths of farmworkers and others across the Pacific Northwest that summer, led the Biden administration to move forward on one of the president's campaign promises: creating heat protections for workers. But the rulemaking process is slow and two years later — as another heat dome causes deaths among farm workers and others — it is still not done…

"So many workers who are disproportionately affected by heat are low-wage workers who have jobs outside [and] are often immigrant workers, workers of color," [Doug Parker, assistant secretary for Occupational Safety and Health at the Labor Department] explained.

Parker told NPR he is hearing concerns about workplace safety in southern states that have faced excessive heat warnings for several weeks…