The Biden administration recently asked the Department of Labor to issue the first-ever Hazard Alert for heat after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a new tool to assist communities in preparation for extreme heat and prevent heat-related illnesses.

 
The Heat and Health Index (HHI) is the a ground-breaking resource to provide heat-health outcome information based on ZIP codes. This resource will allow state and local officials to identify areas of concern that will experience negative health outcomes to better supply resources and outreach in those ZIP codes.
Furthermore, according to OSHA, when the high is 80 degrees or higher, serious occupational heat-related illnesses and injuries become more frequent. With that, the National Weather Service (NWS) uses four environmental heat categories; Caution: 80-90 degrees, Extreme Caution: 91-103, Danger: 103-124, Extreme Danger: 126 or higher.

Additionally, the Department of Labor will ramp up enforcement of heat-safety violations, including increasing inspections in high-risk industries, while OSHA continues to develop a national standard.

This comes after the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) funded the Heat Waves research team which is mapping heat disparity for more targeted intervention. In 2023, the LAF Research Grant in Honor of Deb Mitchell funded an 18-month project which is collecting and analyzing temperature data for Omaha, Nebraska, to develop solutions for extreme heat.

Utilizing this heat-based research for better designs is one way landscape architects can catapult the industry into a safer space, for all.