Texas removing mandatory water breaks for construction workers

Came across this issue from this summer and found no topics on the matter.

Gov. Greg Abbott approved a law this week that will eliminate city and county ordinances like Austin’s and Dallas’ mandated water breaks. The law will nullify ordinances enacted by Austin in 2010 and Dallas in 2015 that established 10-minute breaks every four hours so that construction workers can drink water and protect themselves from the sun. It also prevents other cities from passing such rules in the future.Texas is the state where the most workers die from high temperatures, government data shows. At least 42 workers died in Texas between 2011 and 2021 from environmental heat exposure, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As Texas swelters, local rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will soon be nullified

I could not agree with less with such inhumane decision. Worker safety should always come first. Working in heat requires constant hydration and getting away from the sun every now and then. Already, the 4 hour rule was too lenient. Ideally the break should be every hour or two in order to avoid heat stroke. Considering, there are many people collapsing due to heat during summer, such laws should be common sense.

They justified it by tight deadlines. That means, the project planners did a poor job. The companies should be held liable for worker abuse and any health effects. If somebody collapses due to heat, the companies should be severely fined for worker abuse and should cover damages to the employees.

a reply to: Cabin

As a Native Texan, we know who most of the construction workers are. It's not hard to see who this Bill is directed "against"....

From your own link…

HB 2127, introduced by state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, is perhaps Texas Republicans’ most aggressive attempt to curb progressive policies in the state’s largest, liberal-leaning cities. Under the new law, local governments would be unable to create rules that go beyond what state law dictates in broad areas like labor, agriculture, business and natural resources.
Beyond eliminating mandated water breaks for construction workers, opponents of the legislation argue that it will also make it more difficult for cities and counties to protect tenants facing eviction or to combat predatory lending, excessive noise and invasive species. Labor unions and workers’ rights advocates opposed the law, while business organizations supported it, including the National Federation of Independent Business, a lobbying group with more than 20,000 members in Texas. Abbott said it would “provide a new hope to Texas businesses struggling under burdensome local regulations.” Supporters of HB 2127 say that local regulations on breaks for construction workers are unnecessary because the right to a safe labor environment is already guaranteed through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

This has nothing to do with mandatory water breaks.
It’s keeping a lid on progressive policy making at the local level.
A good thing for everybody.
It didn’t have its own thread because it’s a non issue I’m sure. It’s already long done.

a reply to: Cabin

Gotta conserve water and save the whale and what not.
Makes sense I guess. Just kinda an odd approach if you ask me.

This is going to blow up in Abbots face....

www.dallasnews.com...

a reply to: Cabin

People are 70% water already.

Why would you support hating people, changing people?

Obviously a racist.

a reply to: lilzazz

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Gov. Greg Abbott is the most popular state leader in Texas according to a new poll, while Attorney General Ken Paxton and Speaker of the House Dade Phelan are both underwater in approval ratings.

Of the four main state leaders — Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Phelan and Paxton — Abbott has the highest approval rating, at 49%, nine points higher than the 40% who say they disapprove of the job he is doing as governor. The nine-point margin is the best approval rating Abbott has seen since June 2020. Just two months ago, the margin was zero, with 45% of voters approving and 45% disapproving.
www.kxan.com...

This was 2 months ago.
His approval numbers keep rising.
When exactly is it supposed to blow up?

This is a bigger picture issue.
No employer is going to keep workers, legal or otherwise, from hydrating in the brutal Texas heat.
That's trouble waiting to happen, goes against productivity, and denies all common sense.

This is keeping local municipalities from being overlords of employers were that have no business doing so.

This is going to sound elitist and callous but some folks from certain genetic linages have a remarkable ability to endure temperatures that would knock other genetic lines dicks in the dirt and can go with minimal need for hydration because unlike our spoiled American culture with our temperature controlled custom environments available on a whim folks from these backgrounds have adapted from generations of living without these luxuries and are surprisingly in tune to such conditions.

If it weren't for Beto being such a terrible candidate for Governor, Texas would've tossed Abbott aside by now.

youtu.be...

a reply to: texas thinker

Exactly, we need our cucked legislature to grow a pair and crack down on the BS going on in the cities.

The cities and counties only have authority granted by the State, the State needs to end the BS.

Amended to clarify...this does not mean ALL laborers share this genetic predisposition and care and consideration should be given to those workers who do not have this resiliency.

I should have clarified that in my initial post but I was strapped for time and not as comprehensive on the matter as I should have been.

Laborers working towards the improving of our country should not be exploited as disposable components.

Hydration is important for human beings.

Sorry...I get so lost in my own world sometimes I forget to clarify my concerns for human welfare.

I didnt mean to sound like an out of touch and entitled dick.

My humblest apologies.

I'm working on fixing this mental glitch.

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: texas thinker

Exactly, we need our cucked legislature to grow a pair and crack down on the BS going on in the cities.

The cities and counties only have authority granted by the State, the State needs to end the BS.

Was mandatory 10 minute water breaks in shade every four hours cucked BS?

Honestly, I’ve been seeing both parties leaning into wedge issues and the culture war more than I’ve seen them trying to tackle the economy. They try and get brownie points with voters who are already going to vote for them while wasting time in the legislature.

I sincerely doubt a vast majority of employers in Texas will try and deny their workers a break with water, so I don’t see this as a huge detriment. But it begs the question why even waste time in the legislature if this was a non issue? And god forbid there is an asshole employer who wants workers to stay in the sun for over 4 hours in 100 degree heat, those workers should have the right to go try and regulate their body temperature with water and shade.

a reply to: GENERAL EYES

I assume you’re talking about one of the resilient ethnicities being South Americans.

You are right that they have adapted to hotter climates, though this isn’t as much genetic or physiological, but rather by learning how to coexist with it.

I’m sure you’re familiar with siesta, a nap in the mid afternoon typically during the hottest hours. Your body will naturally bring down its temperature by slowing the metabolism during sleep.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Honestly the point about it having more to do with limiting unnecessary and restrictive regulations seems pretty on the nose. It seems to me that the whole thing about it removing water breaks for construction workers is far more about putting a spin on this to get people upset and less about it actually having anything to do with construction companies actually preventing hydration and water breaks.

a reply to: MrGashler

If we all agree 10 minutes every four hours seems reasonable, and that a vast majority of employers would facilitate this without regulation… why waste time on the legislature floor to remove the regulation?

I want to highlight that I said a vast majority. I’ve worked for a Fortune 500 company that didn’t give any breaks for up to a six hour shift. Granted, you were encouraged to drink all the water you could desire and weren’t in the sun, but you’d unload trailers that were sometimes hotter than the outside temperature because they were baking on the lot before being unloaded.

I did it for years and only got heat exhaustion twice, but my point is if a Fortune 500 company was willing to do it for productivity (no laws for breaks in this state), I’m sure others would too. It’s a lot more dangerous in the sun for people like roofers. You have to try and find stasis every so often if you’re being physically active in heat.

On the site I’m running now I’ve got 50 men getting paid from 7 am till 5.30 pm .. I pay them 10 hrs a day .. they start actually at 7.30 am .. have a break at 11am for 30 mins but should be 15 mins really then they have dinner at 2 pm for 45 mins but should be 30 mins ..

also take into account it takes 5 Mins each way from the site to the canteen .. then they walk of site at 5.15pm .. also 50% smoke so they have at least 4 fag breaks a day what take 5-10mins a go .. so I’m losing roughly 1.5 hrs per man per day . 75hrs x 7 days = 525 working hrs a week lost and you think they deserve another 10 mins per hr break for water ?

a reply to: Nofear51

Seems your main problem is the distance from site to canteen or water. Move it closer and you'll save loads of money plus they get to not die from dehydration.

originally posted by: bastion
a reply to: Nofear51

Seems your main problem is the distance from site to canteen or water. Move it closer and you'll save loads of money plus they get to not die from dehydration.

I can’t put the canteen on the site any closer so that’s not an option .. anyway they have flasks with them for water so not really a problem for me personally just making a point that’s it’s not financially verifiable for a lot of company’s .

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: GENERAL EYES

I’m sure you’re familiar with siesta, a nap in the mid afternoon typically during the hottest hours. Your body will naturally bring down its temperature by slowing the metabolism during sleep.

I did not know that. I love learning new things.
Thank you! One more bean In the jar in regards to the advantages and benefits of a nice nap.