Yuma construction crews battle dangerous heat on summer job sites
Extreme heat pushed Yuma crews into shorter, safer shifts as warnings climbed to 121 degrees, and Arizona's new heat rules now demand written protection plans.
Late-summer warnings called for highs of 117 degrees and then 121 degrees, turning missed hours and slower jobs into a safety issue, not a schedule nuisance for Yuma County construction crews. Temperatures are projected to keep rising, with more heat-related illness, emergency-room visits and loss of life likely unless workers are better protected.
That pressure lands on the people building housing, roads and public improvements across Yuma, where jobsites often offer little natural shade and the equipment itself adds heat. On sites like these, the workday has to bend around hydration, rest breaks and supervision, because workers are among the most exposed to heat illness. Crews often have to start earlier, slow their pace as the day heats up and keep a closer watch for dehydration and heat exhaustion before the afternoon becomes dangerous.
In May 2025, Governor Katie Hobbs signed an executive order directing the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health to form a Workplace Heat Safety Task Force. By December, the task force had delivered final recommendations, and the Industrial Commission of Arizona had published employer heat guidelines. Those recommendations require every employer to develop, implement and maintain a written Heat Illness Prevention Plan covering responsibilities, procedures for water and shade, employees’ rights to rest and hydrate, acclimatization steps and how training will be delivered. Water must be potable, cool and easily accessible.
OSHA’s Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings rule was still pending in 2025 and appeared in the Federal Register on Sept. 25, 2025. A CPWR data bulletin from August 2025 found construction accounted for more than one-third of heat-related fatal injuries in the United States in 2023, while 71.4% of heat-related fatalities happened in summer. Specialty trade contractors made up 55.2% of fatal heat-related construction injuries reported to federal OSHA from 2015 through 2023.
Phoenix and Yuma recorded 145 and 148 days above 100 degrees, respectively, during the 2010 to 2020 period. Arizona recorded 359 heat-caused deaths in 2022, along with 671 heat-related deaths and 4,325 hospital or emergency-room visits. Barriers to cooling-center access for vulnerable residents existed in Maricopa and Yuma counties.
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