Request Congress to Extend OSHA Protections to School Bus Operations and School Buses.

Sign the Petition : 70 Letters and Emails Sent So Far

There is a loop hole in federal regulations that does not protect school buses and school bus drivers from OSHA type violations. This is clearly contrary to congressional intent. The purpose that Congress expressed in the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-956) is “to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources” to “assure … that no worker will suffer diminished health, functional capacity, or life expectancy as a result of his work experience.”

This also exposes over 23 million schoolchildren to the same occupational environment as school bus drivers. This lack of protection is clearly unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious. All workers need the same protections. A school bus is a job site and is the working environment for a school bus driver. Now is the time to start protecting your school bus driver and your children.

Occupational illnesses, injuries, and reduced productivity are caused by the working environment on a school bus. Heat stress, fumes from exhaust or diesel fuel, fuel and grease tracked onto the buses by mechanics, sick students coughing and sneezing in a closed bus, body fluids such as vomit and urine, are a few examples of the possible problems on a school bus. Bus companies need to be required to clean these contaminants out of their school buses daily.

The environmental factors of heat stress are air temperature and movement, water vapor pressure (humidity) and radiant heat. Workers at greater risk of heat stress include those who are older, are overweight, have heart disease or high blood pressure, or take medications that may be affected by extreme heat.

School Bus Drivers are generally older and are not well-suited for heat stress environments. Most school buses do not have air conditioning; do not have adequate air movement and bus companies fail to provide drinking water on the bus; or an opportunity for the driver (or passengers/schoolchildren) to cool down. A full size bus has at least 32 windows that promote a greenhouse effect and the buses themselves are large metal boxes that get very hot and radiate heat back into the bus (like an oven). The following symptoms have occurred from heat stress on a school bus: excessive sweating and dehydration; dizziness; lightheadedness; fatigue; weakness; irritability; and being sick and vomiting.

OSHA does not have specific regulations to deal with heat-induced occupational illnesses, injuries, and reduced productivity. These need to be added beyond the OSHA “general duty clause”. See also, Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Exposure to Hot Environments, http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/86-113.html

For the reasons herein, we urge the President and Congress to extend OSHA protections to school buses and school bus drivers; to add specific OSHA regulations for heat-induced occupational illnesses, injuries, and reduced productivity for all workers; to require bus companies to clean all contaminants from their school buses daily; and that air conditioning should be required on all school buses.
Request Congress to Extend OSHA Protections to School Bus Operations and School Buses.

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People signing the "Request Congress to Extend OSHA Protections to School Bus Operations and School Buses." petition View Report

  1. Wed., Sep. 8, 2010 3:36 PM    link Name not displayed | Knoxville, MD

    we are in a battle right now with our county board of education to have our special needs busses retrofitted with ac, and have a new ac policy in effect. Frederick County, maryland

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  3. Thu., Sep. 2, 2010 11:01 AM    link Amanda M. | Bluff City, TN

    My son needs ac he is type 1 diabetec and it get real hot in the after noon and his sugar can drop fast from heat

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  5. Mon., Aug. 30, 2010 8:37 PM    link donna p. | Kunkletown, PA

  6. Mon., Aug. 30, 2010 4:34 AM    link kevin b. | Fort Stewart, GA

  7. Sun., Aug. 29, 2010 6:35 PM    link Name not displayed | Phoenix, AZ

    As a school bus driver this is an issue that is continually gets swept under the rug. The transportation department states that is not a law that air-conditioning be provided on a bus. Our bus drivers are put at risk and students are at risk in the the extreme heat conditions. I see more and more parents actually driving their children to school due to this issue. Parents are even taking a high risk by packing students into their vehicles without having or using the proper seat restraints. We all know that it is safer to have students on a bus. Lets have OSHA protect our environment on school buses. Their have been many extreme heat condition warnings in Arizona this summer alone can you just imagine how hot these buses are without proper functioning air-conditioning.

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  9. Thu., Aug. 26, 2010 1:22 PM    link Wanda M. | New Orleans, LA

    I am a parent in New Orleans, La, and this is a BIG, BIG problem. All buses need air conditioning, this can cause a big lawsuit if someone get sick, because of heat exhustion whether it a child, or the driver. Please think about the driver and the children. There is no water or drinks on the bus, so dehydration can occur quickly. The index is to high for 30-40 people to be in one area with no air conditionig, especially when it rains, and all windows are up. Please, Please make ALL BUSES AIR CONDITION.

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  11. Thu., Aug. 26, 2010 3:34 AM    link Melinda C. | Shafter, CA

    Our schools are finally being updated with adequate air conditioning for our children, now it is even more important to update our buses with adequate air conditioning. We live in the desert here, today as an example, I drove my car and the outside temp was 119F...after sitting in the parking lot for an hour the temp read 126F. Even with my air conditioning going full blast...the heat in that car was unbearable and hard to breathe...can you imagine our children in a bus? I would bet the temp would've been much higher in the bus after sitting there. There is a much higher rate of asthma these days, and with the air quality at unhealthy levels when the heat is so high, it's not even feasible to open windows for ventilation to further expose our children to the bad elements. It's bad enough on healthy children, totally unacceptable for handicapped/illness ridden children to have to suffer. It's time to remedy this for our children...after all they are OUR FUTURE!!! School districts like ours need to put funds to use that will benefit our children, the money is funded for the children...stop padding the administration and put the money to use where it is supposed to be put...towards our children's education, health, and safety!!! Thank You...

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  13. Thu., Aug. 26, 2010 1:04 AM    link Name not displayed | Shafter, CA

  14. Thu., Aug. 26, 2010 12:10 AM    link Kari A. | Shafter, CA

    As a school bus driver living and working where the temperatures in the summer, and sometimes early fall and late spring, are well over 100 degrees, I completely agree with making OSHA add this. I have seen the children with sweat looting down the beat red faces and there was nothing I could do for them. I finally went and bought bandanas, wet them and had the children lay them around the back of their necks... It offered some relief but nothing like air conditioning would have!
    I am not old, over weight or any of the other things that were listed here, but it is still very hard on a body to suffer when you are dealing with such high temperatures!! Especially hard on the special needs children who I am now driving everyday with no a/c!!
    Thank you for listening

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  16. Wed., Aug. 25, 2010 10:10 PM    link Susan N. | Shafter, CA

  17. Wed., Aug. 25, 2010 9:42 PM    link Heidi G. | Shafter, CA

    Im fighting with my district on this exact issue right now...

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  19. Wed., Aug. 25, 2010 9:27 PM    link Veronica O. | Newman, CA

    In the hot weather months the bus becomes an oven with wheels, is not fair to the children and the bus drivers.

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  21. Wed., Aug. 25, 2010 5:18 PM    link Shannon S. | Argyle, TX

  22. Wed., Aug. 25, 2010 5:09 PM    link Holly R. | Smartville, CA

  23. Mon., Aug. 23, 2010 1:58 PM    link willie h. | Yazoo City, MS

  24. Mon., Aug. 23, 2010 11:35 AM    link Orlando H. | Ridgeland, MS

  25. Sat., Aug. 21, 2010 3:47 PM    link DENISE H. | Ruidoso, NM

  26. Wed., Aug. 18, 2010 9:36 PM    link Luigi A. | Scottsdale, AZ

  27. Tue., Aug. 17, 2010 8:24 PM    link Rick L. | Scottsdale, AZ

    Lack of good working air conditioning injurious to both drivers and students in the Southwest particularly when school starts early in August.

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  29. Tue., Aug. 17, 2010 7:14 PM    link Name not displayed | Belton, TX

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