White House hosts first-ever extreme heat summit, brings together health experts, emergency workers

WASHINGTON — From healthcare professionals to emergency responders and workers exposed to extreme heat – the White House hosted the first-ever summit dedicated to the issue this past weekend.

Channel 2 Washington Correspondent Nicole D’Antonio was in Washington to learn more about which tools and strategies health experts and lawmakers were exploring to make conditions safer for workers in the field facing extreme heat.

Multiple organizations were present at the event to discuss long-term action plans, like installing new cooling infrastructure and equipping emergency responders and healthcare providers with resources to address the extreme heat.

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The conference comes after the United States experienced its fourth hottest summer on record, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and millions of Americans were forced to work through the extreme heat.

Temperatures as high as what was seen earlier this year can be dangerous, and even deadly.

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Forecasters say the intense heat broke multiple records across the U.S. Now, the White House says more should be done to protect workers from extreme weather.

“These extreme weather events don’t just affect people’s lives. But they also cost money, they hurt the economy and they have a significant negative psychological effect on people,” President Joe Biden said at the event.

The Biden Administration spent the weekend bringing together state, local and international leaders to focus on rising temperatures and how to handle the heat.

The summit came after the White House announced a new set of federal safety standards for employees working in extreme heat.

The new requirements are supposed to help employers identify heat hazards, then train them on how to best respond.

“Across the country, workers suffer from heat strokes or even die from just doing their jobs. this new rule will sustain substantially reduce heat, injuries, illnesses, and deaths for over 36 million workers,” Biden said.

The White House has also launched a new website to track heat and health metrics across the country.

If you go to Heat.Gov and enter your ZIP code, you’ll be able to find the heat forecast for your neighborhood.

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