Hello, FNPN Members!

Our Florida legislature is currently in the process of reviewing and passing several bills that impact health.  As NPs, many of us have seen people sickened by the Florida summer heat and we know that heat can be deadly.   FNPN is supporting a bill (BH945/SB 762) to require minimal protections for outdoor workers . We ask you to contact three state representatives (names below) to urge that they calendar this bill to be heard in committee and support this bill.

We also ask you to oppose the bill (HB433) which bars cities and counties from requiring heat protections for outdoor workers.

 

With Florida's increasing temperatures combined with humidity resulting in dangerously high ‘real feel’ temperatures (heat index).  As nurse practitioners, we can advocate for the legislature to pass this ).  HB 945/SB 762 Heat Illness Prevention Bill to protect outside workers and prevent deaths and disability.  This Heat Illness Prevention Bill (HB 945/SB 762)  "Requires employers to implement outdoor heat exposure safety program ….; specifies requirements for safety program; provides responsibilities for employers & employees; . . . " We are asking this bill to be heard in the Regulatory Reform and Economic Development Subcommittee since it must be heard in various committees first, before going to a vote on the floor. It is recommended we support HB 945/SB 762. 

 

 A sample email/phone script is written below, along with the contacts of the three Representatives. Don't forget to sign your email at the bottom.

 

Contact information

Representative Paul Renner  (850) 717-5019/ paul.renner@myfloridahouse.gov

Representative Danny Perez  (850) 717-5116/ daniel.perez@myfloridahouse.gov

Representative Tyler Sirois  (850) 717-5031/ tyler.sirois@myfloridahouse.gov

 

Sample Email/Phone Script – Please update the name of the Representative in the first line. Personalize the letter if you are able to and sign at the end. Adding patient stories of heat-related illness and your clinical title would be helpful additions if you can.

 

 

Dear Representative [last name],

 

I'm writing to ask that you calendar or schedule HB 945, the Heat Illness Prevention Bill, in the Regulatory Reform and Economic Development Subcommittee.

HB 945 is a commonsense, non-punitive bill to educate employers of outdoor workers in proven methods of heat illness prevention. Heat illness is a huge problem in Florida, which regularly leads the nation in Emergency Department visits for extreme heat. Extreme heat is already the number one cause of weather-related deaths in the US, deaths which are preventable through education and implementation of simple measures including adequate access to shade and water during extreme heat. In addition, for those suffering from severe heat illness, urgent access to an ice bath may stop the progression to severe disability and death.

Many employers and outdoor workers simply do not know how to prevent, recognize, and treat heat illness. This was clearly the case last year when a 29-year-old man died of heat illness while working outdoors in Miami-Dade County in July. His co-workers thought that treatment with ice would hurt him. A 28-year-old farmworker died on a hot day in January last year during his first day on the job in Broward County. Despite experiencing clear symptoms of severe heat illness, both men were taken to rest alone instead of getting emergency treatment. Their co-workers found them dead shortly afterward. Had the education bill been passed last legislative session, it is likely the co-workers of both men and their employers would have known how to recognize their illness and save them or would have prevented their illness from happening in the first place. You can read more about the issue behind these tragedies here: https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/extreme-heat-warning-doctor-cheryl-holder-miami/

Since the Regulatory Reform and Economic Development Subcommittee just passed along HB 433, which would prevent local governments from passing any type of heat illness regulations on employers of outdoor workers, please calendar the committee to hear HB 945, a non-punitive heat prevention [education] bill which addresses the industry's concerns about local, varying efforts. Employers and employees support this bill, which provides them with the resources needed to keep everyone safe in the heat. Heat kills so death is the highest price by not implementing sound policy.

As our heat seasons continue to break records, Floridians' risk for heat illness will only go up. We all need to learn about how to prevent heat illness, but especially employers of outdoor workers. Please do the right thing and calendar HB 945 to be heard.

Your attention to this matter is appreciated. Thank you for your dedication to public service.

 

Sincerely,