Rising temperatures in places link Phoenix are posing an increasing threat to the health of workers whose jobs keep them outdoors and exposed to high temperatures for long periods of time. The U.S.Occupational Safety and Health Administration is now at work on a process to develop a workplace heat standard. The agency is looking at developing a national program that would implement an enforcement initiative on heat-related hazards and heat inspections, and forming a working group to engage stakeholders and coordinate with state and local officials. Urban climatologist Ariane Middel, a Fulton Schools assistant professor, studies “heatscapes” and how people experience the impacts of the urban heat island effect. The effects come not only from direct exposure to sunlight, Middel says, but also from ground-level surfaces, such as asphalt, concrete other materials in the built environment that strongly reflect heat. (Online access to the Phoenix Business Journal is available only to subsribers.)