Cristian Mejia has noticed a worrying trend over the decade he鈥檚 spent working in construction.
鈥淭he climate has been changing every year. The sun, the temperature is hotter.鈥� he said. 鈥淭his year, we have felt it a lot.鈥�
Mejia, 32, is part of a crew building a new Chick-fil-A off Interstate 35 in Waxahachie. Every day, he and his teammates are at work by 3 a.m. They start early to stay safe.
Mejia said he鈥檚 gotten used to the hours.
鈥淲orking overnight isn鈥檛 very difficult because there isn鈥檛 any sun,鈥� he said. "There may be some humidity and you might sweat, but we work better at that hour than in the middle of the day.鈥�
Climate change is making summers hotter. The on record according to the World Meteorological Organization. That puts outdoor workers like Mejia at risk of developing a heat-related illness, like heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
The U.S. doesn鈥檛 have national safety standards to protect outdoor workers from extreme heat. And earlier this year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott , which blocks cities and counties from implementing local worker protections such as mandatory water breaks.
Between 2010 and 2020, at least , according to an investigation by NPR, The Texas Newsroom, The California Newsroom, Columbia Journalism Investigations and Public Health Watch. In Texas, at least 53 workers died from heat-related illnesses during that same period. The analysis of federal data also revealed that the three-year average of worker heat deaths had doubled since the early 1990s.
Local hospitals say they鈥檝e seen this trend continue. Parkland Health in Dallas, for example, has seen 50% more cases of heat-related illnesses this summer than this time last year, according to Chief Medical Officer Joseph Chang.
He said dangerously hot weather requires planning. For example, hydrating before going outside is critical.
鈥淚 always tell people, fill your tank before you go out there,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e out there, if you already have an empty tank in terms of liquid in your body and then you sweated it all out, it鈥檚 like you鈥檙e going from empty to even emptier and it鈥檚 really hard to catch up.鈥�
Workers should also know what to do while they鈥檙e working outside, like having plenty of water and electrolytes on hand. They should also wear proper protective clothing, like long-sleeved shirts and a hat.
鈥淧eople ignore the hat a lot,鈥� Chang said. 鈥淧eople feel like, 鈥榃ow, gosh, I鈥檝e got another piece of clothing on my head. It鈥檚 going to make me more hot,鈥� when in fact actually the opposite is true.鈥�
Chang said a large bucket hat is perfect for working outside because the head is where people lose most of their moisture and that can make a person more dehydrated.
Finally, he said workers should have a plan for when they鈥檙e back home. It鈥檚 not enough to drink plenty of water. People should also replenish the electrolytes they lost to sweat. That means drinking something like Gatorade or Powerade, which contain electrolytes.
Bethany Boggess Alcauter, director of research and public health programs at The National Center for Farmworker Health, strongly recommends using the buddy system. Workers should look out for each other as they toil in the sun and pay attention to symptoms of heat illness, such as dizziness, weakness, nausea and confusion.
The organization staffs a telephone helpline that agricultural workers can call with health-related concerns. Recently, she heard about workers in South Texas who didn鈥檛 have water.
鈥淚n that particular instance, according to our colleagues, they were being punished for not finishing all the water in the water bottles,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o they took away their drinking water.鈥�
Boggess Alcauter said that鈥檚 an extreme example, but access to water is a problem.
鈥淭ypically, the issue we see on farms and in construction is just that the water is too far away and people can鈥檛 stop to go get it, so that鈥檚 the bigger issue with not having drinking water.鈥�
About a mile down the road from Cristian Mejia鈥檚 crew, another group of workers was busy clearing the right-of-way for a natural gas project. He and his co-workers started their workday at 7 a.m.
Vincent Hall, who oversees the workers, said he doesn鈥檛 underestimate the heat.
鈥淚鈥檝e been doing this for the last seven years and every year it gets hotter and hotter,鈥� he said.
He said he reminds his workers to take rest breaks, at least 20 minutes every three to four hours.
鈥淏elieve me, the sun will let you know. Your body will shut down any time,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou could be just standing here working and then all of a sudden, you know, you feel like you鈥檙e going down.鈥�
Got a tip? Email Stella M. Ch谩vez at schavez@kera.org. You can follow Stella on Twitter .
四虎影院 is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider today. Thank you.
