Years of Advocacy Lead to Major Victory for Worker Heat Protections in New York City

A years-long campaign to protect workers from dangerous heat reached a major milestone on June 22, 2026, as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order establishing new heat safety requirements for workers exposed to extreme temperatures.

The announcement marked the culmination of years of organizing and advocacy effort by the Temperature Extreme Mitigation Program (TEMP) Coalition, founded and led by NYCOSH in partnership with labor unions, worker advocates, and frontline workers. NYCOSH played a central role in building the coalition and elevating the voices of workers facing increasingly hazardous conditions as climate change drives hotter summers.

“Today has been the culmination of much effort and advocacy over the past number of years fighting for extreme heat protections for workers,” said NYCOSH Executive Director Charlene Obernauer. “It has been an honor to found and lead the TEMP Coalition alongside unions and working people. We are grateful to Mayor Mamdani, Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su, and their teams for partnering with us today and in the long term until every worker is safe.”

Joined by labor leaders, worker advocates, and members of the TEMP Coalition, Mamdani signed the executive order, recognizing that extreme heat is a worker safety issue affecting the people who build New York City’s skyline, staff airports, stock warehouses, and deliver goods that keep the city running.

The directive requires all mayoral agencies to implement heat illness prevention plans and provide multilingual heat safety guidance to workers. It also calls for a review of construction site heat safety practices to strengthen protections for workers laboring outdoors in dangerous temperatures. Labor organizations including 32BJ SEIU and RWDSU joined NYCOSH and the TEMP Coalition in celebrating the announcement, calling it an important step forward in protecting workers whose jobs increasingly place them at risk during extreme weather events.

While applauding the city’s action, advocates stressed that the work is far from finished. The TEMP Coalition and NYCOSH continue to push for passage of the statewide Temperature Extreme Mitigation Program (TEMP) Act (S3412/A3527), which would establish legally enforceable standards for rest, shade, hydration, and other protections for both outdoor and indoor workers across New York.

“This executive order is an important victory, but workers in every corner of the state deserve permanent, enforceable protections,” Obernauer said. “We will continue organizing and advocating until every worker is protected from extreme heat.”