Warehouse death prompts Calif. regulators to consider bill to reduce employee heat exposure.

A death last year at a Rite Aid distribution center in Lancaster, Calif., is partly behind a bill before the California legislature that would amend Section 142.8 of the State's Labor Code and require the State Occupational Safety and Health Board to develop a standard to protect workers from being exposed to excessive heat indoors. California Assembly Bill 1045 calls for language to be added to the labor code on or before July 1, 2008, that would call for workplace monitoring, hazard prevention, preventive rest and relief periods, access to drinking water, first aid and training