Colorado bill would set worker safety standards for extreme heat and cold

Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, a Glenwood Springs Democrat, speaks at an immigrants rights rally at the Colorado Capitol on Jan. 22, 2025. (Sara Wilson/Colorado Newsline)

Shade structures and warming shelters for Colorado workers would be required at certain temperatures under a bill working its way through the Legislature.

House Bill 25-1286 would require employers to provide shade or shelter in extreme conditions, develop temperature-related safety plans for job sites and make water available for workers in an effort to prevent illness like heat stroke, hypothermia and frostbite.

“Our working families and our working community know what it is to live in a changing climate. We are the ones that are feeling the pressure of living in places that sometimes don’t have air conditioning, or working outside when it’s over 100 degrees,” Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, a Glenwood Springs Democrat, said at a press conference announcing the legislation in February.

“What we want to ensure with this bill is that our community members are able to go to work and come back home,” she said.

Velasco is running the bill with Rep. Meg Froelich, an Englewood Democrat, Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Littleton Democrat, and Sen. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat. Nineteen House Democrats, including Majority Leader Monica Duran, are also signed onto the bill in support.

Sponsors say the bill seeks to codify into state law existing guidelines set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for workers in industries that can operate in extreme temperatures, such as construction, agriculture, landscaping, oil and gas production, warehousing and manufacturing. OSHA is considering rulemaking around a heat standard similar to what is outlined in the bill.

Heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States, and between 2011 and 2021, 436 people died on the job due to environmental heat exposure, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last August was the hottest August on record in the Northern Hemisphere.

“As our climate continues to change, these risks will become more and more prevalent. That’s why we must implement protections that prevent these occurrences from happening,” Cutter said.

The bill ​defines trigger temperatures as a​ low of 30 degrees Fahrenheit and a high of 80 degrees, though the triggers account for how a person experiences low and high temperatures, such as with wind chill and humidity.

At that heat level, employers would need to provide shade or an air-conditioned area for workers that is no more than a quarter mile from the work site if people need to walk to it. It would need to be large enough that the number of workers taking a break could sit normally and comfortably without touching one another. Employers would also need to provide at least one quart of water per worker per hour, or one gallon every four hours.

If it hits 90 degrees, workers would be entitled to a 15 minute rest break every two hours.

Alan Soto, who owns a gravel service business in Colorado, said that despite OSHA training and guidelines, protections on the work site are not guaranteed. Colorado is under federal OSHA jurisdiction, rather than an individual state plan with stricter standards.

“It’s up to each employer to decide how serious to take worker safety, and unfortunately, it’s often not enough. I’ve seen workers push through heat exhaustion, feeling dizzy and weak, because they don’t want to lose a day’s work pay,” he said.

Colorado has had heat-related protections for agricultural workers since 2021, but that doesn’t extend to other industries and the state does not have cold-related protections for any workers.

“Colorado can lead the nation in protecting workers from exposure to extreme cold, whether they are inside or outside. Hypothermia, frostbite and trench foot are just a few of the issues that can arise from cold stress and they can worsen existing health conditions,” Cutter said.

There would be rules for cold-related risks that mirror the heat-related ones. At the initial trigger level, workers would need to have access to a heated indoor area close by. If it is unsafe or infeasible to have that heated indoor area, employers would need to “utilize alternative procedures for providing access to warmth,” according to bill text, though it does not provide examples.

Workers would be able to take a 10 minute “preventative warm up break” every two hours.

The bill also has guidelines for a “buddy system” for workers to monitor each other in extreme temperatures, rules for communication with workers alone on a job site and required injury prevention plans.

“Employers should provide essential and basic protections to workers, like shade, water and warming shelters. These are not luxuries. These are common-sense necessities to protect the health and even to save lives,” said Alex Sánchez, the president of the advocacy group Voces Unidas.

The bill is backed by the Coalition to Protect Workers from Extreme Temperatures, which includes Voces Unidas, Conservation Colorado, ACLU Colorado and the state’s larger unions.

It is widely opposed, however, by industry groups like the Associated Builders and Contractors Rocky Mountain Chapter, Colorado Farm Bureau, the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ Association Colorado Chapter and Associated General Contractors of Colorado.

Michael Gifford, AGC’s advocacy director, said the bill covers a topic already regulated by OSHA.

“We very much believe in worker safety and health, but we just don’t think it’s helpful to have two different units of government regulating the same area,” he said.
Additionally, he said that many of the large contractors that are members of AGC already consider extreme temperatures and the associated safety risks. He also worries about how mandatory breaks could impact a project’s timeline and cost.

“They’re doing rest breaks, heat, breaks, cold, measures, buddy systems. They have to have all of this in a written safety plan,” he said. “So it’s not the measures, it’s really the fact that we’re going to have a whole new swath of time that just can’t work because of cold or heat.”

The bill is set for its first committee hearing on March 13 with the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee.