My name is Frank Ricci, and I serve as a Fellow at Yankee Institute — the eyes, ears and voice of hardworking people who want a prosperous Connecticut. Our common sense solutions drive positive legislative results to strengthen our communities and build a vibrant, hopeful future.
Connecticut’s proposed Bill No. 830, set to establish safety standards for preventing heat-related illness in workplaces starting October 1, 2025, is a misguided attempt to fix what isn’t broken. While it aims to protect workers, it slams businesses — especially small ones — with excessive regulations and costs that outweigh any real benefits.
Having worked tough outdoor jobs like installing fences and digging ditches, I’ve never met an employer who didn’t already adjust for weather or provide water breaks when it got hot. This bill tries to legislate basic human decency, burdening businesses with red tape and expenses for a problem that’s already handled through common sense.
One major issue is the bill’s obsession with documentation and record-keeping. For outdoor jobs, when temperatures top 80°F, employers must set up shade areas, provide 32 ounces of drinking water per employee per hour, and monitor workers for heat illness during breaks (Section 1). Indoors, if it’s over 80°F without working air conditioning, employers must measure and log temperature and heat index, keeping these records for a year (Section 2).
Imagine a small construction crew forced to assign someone to track thermometer readings, jot down times and locations, and file it all away. That’s time and money spent on paperwork instead of building something.
For a lean operation, this could mean hiring extra help or training staff just to keep up — costs that hit hard.
Then there’s the way it meddles with how businesses run. At 95°F outdoors, the bill demands “high heat practices” like 10-minute cool-down breaks every two hours and rotating workers (Section 1(f)). Indoors, at 87°F or higher, employers might need to tweak schedules, slow down work, or bring in extra hands (Section 2(d)). For a landscaping company on a tight deadline, these rules will increase labor costs and frustrating customers. Small businesses don’t have the cushion to absorb these disruptions; they’ll end up charging clients more just to break even, making it tougher to compete in a state where expenses are already sky high.
The training requirements are another overreach. Section 3 mandates that every employee — and supervisors separately — get detailed lessons on heat illness risks, acclimatization, and emergency plans. Of course, safety matters, but this assumes workers and bosses are clueless about staying hydrated or spotting trouble in the heat. In my experience, employers made sure we had water and shade without needing a state-scripted seminar. Forcing businesses to create these programs or bring in outside experts adds yet another expense and time sink. Federal rules like OSHA’s heat standards already cover this ground — why pile on more?
Plus, the bill’s vague wording — “including, but not limited to” agriculture, construction, and landscaping — leaves everyone guessing about who’s affected (Section 1(b)). A delivery service or maintenance crew might wonder if they’re on the hook, risking fines if they guess wrong. And for what gain? Employers already provide water and breaks when it’s hot — it’s instinct, not a revelation. I’ve sweated through plenty of summers on job sites; no one needed a law to tell us to cool off.
Bill No. 830 drowns Connecticut businesses in paperwork, rigid rules, and unnecessary training, all to solve a non-issue. It ignores the practical reality that employers already prioritize worker safety and the fact that existing laws address heat risks. The state should enforce what’s on the books, not choke small businesses with costly, redundant regulations. This bill deserves to be shelved.
