Document text
Laws protecting workers from heat and smoke will not be overturned, judge rules By Alex Baumhardt | Oregon Capital Chronicle Dec 24, 2022 12:45 AM A A Smoke settles into a pear orchard along South Stage Road in Medford. [Mail Tribune / file photo] A lawsuit attempting to block enforcement of new worker protections in extreme heat and smoke events has been dismissed by a federal judge in Medford. The heat and smoke rules require employers to provide respirator masks in exceptionally smoky conditions and water and shade breaks in high heat. The rules were developed by the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division, or Oregon OSHA, following a 2020 executive order from Gov. Kate Brown. Oregon OSHA is also in charge of enforcing the rules. Soon after the heat rules went into effect last summer, three industry groups — the Oregon Manufacturers and Commerce, Associated Oregon Loggers, Inc. and the Oregon Forest Industries Council — challenged OSHA’s authority to enforce them. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Medford, the groups said the heat and smoke rules were both too restrictive and not specific enough to each industry, claiming some rules for protecting farmers don’t make sense to apply to loggers. Because of this, they argued, the rules would be too difficult for Oregon OSHA to enforce and that they violated employers’ 14th amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution. Workers rights’ and environmental justice groups argued the rules are necessary to keep people safe. During the 2020 Labor Day weekend wildfires, many farmworkers harvested crops while breathing unhealthy levels of smoke, and in 2021, extreme heat led to the death of an Oregon farmworker. At the hearing Tuesday, Judge Mark Clarke dismissed the industry groups’ claims that the rules were unconstitutional because they were too vague to enforce. Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence.