WA issues new protections for outdoor workers following extreme heat wave

New emergency rules from the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries will soon require employers to provide shade from the sun and breaks for workers to cool down.

Washington is now the third state to regulate outdoor work conditions under extreme heat.

This comes after a record-breaking heat wave across the Pacific Northwest that at last count killed 78 people in Washington state alone, with hundreds more dead in Oregon and Canada. Among the deceased was a 38-year old Guatemalan farmworker in Oregon.

The emergency rules are coupled with previous ones, and kick in once it reaches 89 degrees — when employers have to provide workers with cool drinking water.