Broken or no air conditioning for months. No shade for hours. No water breaks.
These are some of the hundreds of heat-related complaints reported to the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as protecting workers from heat illness draws increased attention. What’s unexpected about most of the complaints is that they’re primarily from those working indoors.
“There are a lot of heat issues indoors in Nevada,” said Victoria Carreón, administrator at the Nevada Department of Business and Industry, Division of Industrial Relations. It could be “issues related to air conditioning or some other heat-producing equipment.”
The Review-Journal analyzed 547 OSHA complaints made between 2017 and 2021 as a new state program launched to safeguard workers in outdoor and indoor settings, modified for Nevada’s hot and dry climate.
