‘Your body fights to stay cool’: workers toil in record heat as federal rule frozen

A man wipes the sweat away after working on the spray deck at the Vietnam Veterans Swimming and Wading Pool on June 24, 2025. Photograph: Boston Globe/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenA man wipes the sweat away after working on the spray deck at the Vietnam Veterans Swimming and Wading Pool on June 24, 2025. Photograph: Boston Globe/Getty ImagesExtreme heat‘Your body fights to stay cool’: workers toil in record heat as federal rule frozenTrump officials and Republicans are rolling back protections against heat-related illnesses and deaths

When it’s 90F on a hot summer day, Esther Minton wears a long-sleeved shirt to work.

“Working outside, you don’t have cover. There’s nowhere for you to really go if you’re on a roof or if you’re on the side of a building,” said Minton, a member of the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 28 in New York City. “Having the sun beaming on your skin all day long, you’ll never make it through, so what you wear makes a difference.”

Working outside during the brutal summer months means learning how to stay properly hydrated, dealing with port-a-potties that get much hotter than outside temperatures and handling heated copper metals exposed to direct sunlight.

“Before the day is over, by the time you’re at break at lunchtime – say 12pm, when the sun is really out and doing its thing – you are drained,” Minton said. “Your body fights hardcore to stay cool, your body fights hard to not be dehydrated.”

View image in fullscreenA firefighter cools off with a bottle of water after responding to a fire during a heat wave on 2 July 2026. Photograph: Boston Globe/Getty ImagesThis summer was the hottest on record in the US, and workers are caught on the frontlines of a heat crisis that is expected to drive up heat-related illnesses and deaths.

The rising temperatures come as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are rolling back federal rules meant to protect workers from heat injury and illnesses.

In January 2025, the White House indefinitely froze Biden-era heat safety regulations that would have mandated water, shade, breaks, training and prevent plans for workers.

House Republicans have also been pushing legislation that would prohibit the Department of Labor from enacting any workplace protections for heat exposure. Republicans in Florida and Texas have passed similar legislation prohibiting local city and county governments from passing heat protections.

Big business groups and lobbyists, including from the agricultural and construction industries, have strongly opposed heat protection standards for workers, claiming employers already do what would be mandated and claim the rule would be a burden on employers.

View image in fullscreenAn person works through high temperatures to set a sidewalk outside Squantum elementary school on 11 August 2025. Photograph: Boston Globe/Getty ImagesWorkers at a recent Climate Week roundtable in New York City strongly disagreed employers are doing enough to protect workers from heat.

Donald Nesbit, executive vice-president of Local 372 and former school cafeteria worker, recalled working in an old school building every summer in a kitchen basement as he prepared meals for students.