World Cup workers face extreme heat risks, study finds
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- A study published this week found thousands of World Cup workers are expected to labor in conditions exceeding recommended heat-exposure limits across 16 host cities, including 11 in the US, with researchers using wet-bulb globe temperatures to measure heat stress.
- Southern US host cities — Miami, Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta — face the greatest risks with game-time temperatures potentially exceeding 85F-90F, and non-air-conditioned stadiums in Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and Kansas City pose additional dangers.
- Fifa says it scheduled many matches for late afternoon and evening and will deploy shaded areas, misting systems, expanded water distribution, real-time weather monitoring, and a taskforce of heat experts, though it does not directly control employment conditions governed by host countries, contractors, and stadium authorities.
- Florida and Texas — both hosting matches — have enacted state laws explicitly banning local municipalities from mandating heat protections for workers, according to immigrant rights organizer Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, who said her coalition's attempts to pass protective ordinances have been preempted.
- Only seven states have enforceable occupational heat safety standards, and just two of them — California and Washington — are hosting World Cup matches; OSHA renewed its heat-safety emphasis program this year but weakened its enforcement measures under Trump, former deputy assistant secretary of labor Jordan Barab said.
- Temporary contract workers who may not be acclimated to local heat and may be less likely to report unsafe conditions are the ones most exposed, University of Georgia climatologist Andrew Grundstein said, noting the body needs time to adjust to higher temperatures.
- The planet has warmed by more than 1F since the last World Cup held in North America, and this year's tournament could be the hottest since the first in 1930, according to the study.
Why it matters: The deadliest form of extreme weather meets its weakest regulatory framework: only 7 of 16 host-city states have enforceable heat safety standards, Florida and Texas have explicitly banned local heat ordinances, and OSHA's enforcement was weakened this year. Temporary contract workers — the least acclimated to the heat and least likely to report it — are the ones most exposed across 11 US venues.
