Library workers sent home because of indoor heat
September 9, 2009 by Fred HosierPosted in: Compliance, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
California has been cracking down on farms that don’t provide outdoor workers with enough water and shade on hot days. Indoor workers can suffer from heat stress, too, but you wouldn’t expect libraries to be on the list of places with problems due to hot conditions.
In California, Oakland Public Library officials have had to close four branches recently to stay in compliance with Cal-OSHA employee heat exposure standards.
The libraries close when the indoor temperature is over 86°.
The closings have usually occurred after 2 p.m. Employees have the choice of finishing their shifts at another library branch or taking the time off without pay.
Only 5 of Oakland’s 15 libraries have air conditioning because several branches are more than 45 years old. There are no plans to add air conditioning to those libraries.
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September 14th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
The history of heat illness prevention in California started decades ago with overheated librarians. In the early 1970s a Senior Librarian, a member of AFSCME 2626, closed Los Feliz Library when
three staff members went home sick after indoor temperatures in the store front branch exceeded 90°F. The city investigated and subsequently increased their efforts to find an airconditioned building.
For more on the shameful history of delayed heat illness prevention efforts in California, see http://www.worksafe.org/images/contentEdit/docs/Wksf%202007-05-15_Timeline1.pdf
September 16th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Can’t let those public workers work in adverse conditions can we? I’m surprised that they aren’t receiving full pay for the “hardship.”
September 17th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Can’t they turn the air conditioner down so that it’s cooler? Close the drapes? Something?
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:17 am
Heat can exacerbate other medical conditions. So it isn’t about just being a hardship. Obesity, hypothyroidism, heat syncope, heat edema, prickly heat, and many others. If getting a central AC unit is too expensive are their cheaper alternatives or ways to get refurbished units or window units for other rooms where employees can continue working? For example sealing off a research room with AC so employees can continue working on administrative tasks like sorting, etc?