World
Sensors can read your sweat and predict overheating. Here's why privacy advocates care
On a hot summer day in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, dozens of men removed pipes, asbestos and hazardous waste while working to decontaminate a nuclear facility and prepare it for demolition.
Dressed in head-to-toe coveralls and fitted with respirators, the crew members toiling in a building without power had no obvious respite from the heat. Instead, they wore armbands that recorded their heart rates, movements and exertion levels for signs of heat stress.
Stephanie Miller, a safety and health manager for a U.S. government contractor doing cleanup work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, watched a computer screen nearby. A color-coding system with little bubbles showing each worker’s physiological data alerted her if anyone was in danger of overheating.
“Heat is one of the greatest risks that we have in this work, even though we deal with high radiation, hazardous chemicals and heavy metals,” Miller said.
As the world experiences more record high temperatures, employers are exploring wearable technologies to keep workers safe. New devices collect biometric data to estimate core body temperature – an elevated one is a symptom of heat exhaustion – and prompt workers to take cool-down breaks.
The devices, which were originally developed for athletes, firefighters and military personnel, are getting adopted at a time when the Atlantic Council estimates heat-induced losses in labor productivity could cost the U.S. approximately $100 billion annually.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
But there are concerns about how the medical information collected on employees will be safeguarded. Some labor groups worry managers could use it to penalize people for taking needed breaks.
“Any time you put any device on a worker, they’re very concerned about tracking, privacy, and how are you going to use this against me,” said Travis Parsons, director of occupational safety and health at the Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America. “There’s a lot of exciting stuff out there, but there’s no guardrails around it.”
VULNERABLE TO HEAT
At the Tennessee cleanup site, the workers wearing heat stress monitors made by Atlanta company SlateSafety are employed by United Cleanup Oak Ridge. The company is a contractor of the U.S. Department of Energy, which has rules to prevent on-the-job overheating.
But most U.S. workers lack protections from extreme heat because there are no federal regulations requiring them, and many vulnerable workers don’t speak up or seek medical attention. In July, the Biden administration proposed a rule to protect 36 million workers from heat-related illnesses.
From 1992 to 2022, 986 workers died from heat exposure in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Experts suspect the number is higher because a coroner might not list heat as the cause of death if a sweltering roofer takes a fatal fall.
Setting occupational safety standards can be tricky because individuals respond differently to heat. That’s where the makers of wearable devices hope to come in.
HOW WEARABLE HEAT TECH WORKS
Employers have observed workers for heat-related distress by checking their temperatures with thermometers, sometimes rectally. More recently, firefighters and military personnel swallowed thermometer capsules.
“That just was not going to work in our work environment,” Rob Somers, global environment, health and safety director at consumer product company Perrigo, said.
Instead, more than 100 employees at the company’s infant formula plants were outfitted with SlateSafety armbands. The devices estimate a wearer’s core body temperature, and a reading of 101.3 degrees triggers an alert.
Another SlateSafety customer is a Cardinal Glass factory in Wisconsin, where four masons maintain a furnace that reaches 3000 degrees Fahrenheit.
“They’re right up against the face of the wall. So it’s them and fire,” Jeff Bechel, the company’s safety manager, said.
Cardinal Glass paid $5,000 for five armbands, software and air-monitoring hardware. Bechel thinks the investment will pay off; an employee’s two heat-related emergency room visits cost the company $15,000.
Another wearable, made by Massachusetts company Epicore Biosystems, analyzes sweat to determine when workers are at risk of dehydration and overheating.
“Until a few years ago, you just sort of wiped (sweat) off with a towel,” CEO Rooz Ghaffari said. “Turns out there’s all this information packed away that we’ve been missing.”
Research has shown some devices successfully predict core body temperature in controlled environments, but their accuracy remains unproven in dynamic workplaces, according to experts. A 2022 research review said factors such as age, gender and ambient humidity make it challenging to reliably gauge body temperature with the technology.
The United Cleanup Oak Ridge workers swathed in protective gear can get sweaty even before they begin demolition. Managers see dozens of sensor alerts daily.
Laborer Xavier Allison, 33, was removing heavy pieces of ductwork during a recent heat wave when his device vibrated. Since he was working with radioactive materials and asbestos, he couldn’t walk outside to rest without going through a decontamination process, so he spent about 15 minutes in a nearby room which was just as hot.
“You just sit by yourself and do your best to cool off,” Allison said.
The armband notifies workers when they’ve cooled down enough to resume work.
“Ever since we implemented it, we have seen a significant decrease in the number of people who need to get medical attention,” Miller said.
COLLECTING PERSONAL DATA
United Cleanup Oak Ridge uses the sensor data and an annual medical exam to determine work assignments, Miller said. After noticing patterns, the company sent a few employees to see their personal physicians, who found heart issues the employees hadn’t known about, she said.
At Perrigo, managers analyze the data to find people with multiple alerts and speak to them to see if there’s “a reason why they’re not able to work in the environment,” Somers said. The information is organized by identification numbers, not names, when it goes into the company’s software system, he said.
Companies keeping years of medical data raises concerns about privacy and whether bosses may use the information to kick an employee off a health plan or fire them, said Adam Schwartz, privacy litigation director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“The device could hurt, frankly, because you could raise your hand and say ‘I need a break,’ and the boss could say, ‘No, your heart rate is not elevated, go back to work,’” Schwartz said.
To minimize such risks, employers should allow workers to opt in or out of wearing monitoring devices, only process strictly necessary data and delete the information within 24 hours, he said.
Wearing such devices also may expose workers to unwanted marketing, Ikusei Misaka, a professor at Tokyo’s Musashino University, said.
A PARTIAL SOLUTION
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health advises employers to institute a plan to help workers adjust to hot conditions and to train them to recognize signs of heat-related illness and to administer first aid. Wearable devices can be part of efforts to reduce heat stress, but more work needs to be done to determine their accuracy, said Doug Trout, the agency’s medical officer.
The technology also needs to be paired with access to breaks, shade and cool water, since many workers, especially in agriculture, fear retaliation for pausing to cool off or hydrate.
“If they don’t have water to drink, and the time to do it, it doesn’t mean much,” Juanita Constible, senior advocate at the National Resources Defense Council, said. “It’s just something extra they have to carry when they’re in the hot fields.”
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Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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June 1, 2026
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Colombia’s first-round presidential election, won by tough-talking conservative Abelardo de la Espriella, signaled what analysts describe as a growing backlash across Latin America against leftist governments.
The presidential election could carry significant implications for U.S. interests in the region, including drug trafficking, migration and regional stability, as voters increasingly prioritize security, counternarcotics policies and economic stability ahead of a June 21 runoff between de la Espriella and leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda.
“For the Trump administration, a Colombia that recommits itself to security cooperation, counternarcotics efforts, and stronger democratic institutions would be a major win and an important step forward towards restoring stability across the Western Hemisphere,” Melissa Ford Maldonado of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) told Fox News Digital from Colombia.
ANTI-CARTEL HARDLINER CHANNELS TRUMP IN BID TO END COLOMBIA’S LEFTIST ERA IN PIVOTAL ELECTION
Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo De La Espriella of the political movement Defenders of the Homeland reacts after the results of the first round of the presidential election, in Barranquilla, Colombia May 31, 2026. (Sergio Acero/reuters )
“What happens in Colombia affects the flow of drugs into American communities, the strength of transnational criminal networks, migration pressures and the broader balance between democratic governments and criminalized regimes throughout the region,” she added.
The first-round winner, de la Espriella, a conservative lawyer and political outsider known as “El Tigre” (“The Tiger”), has emerged as the face of Colombia’s security-focused shift.
An admirer of President Donald Trump and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, won 43.7% of the vote Sunday, outperforming most polls and advancing to a runoff against left-wing Cepeda, the candidate backed by President Gustavo Petro.
His campaign has centered on a hardline crackdown on criminal organizations, which he argues have flourished under Petro’s “Total Peace” policy.
Supporters of Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo De La Espriella of the political movement Defenders of the Homeland react to the results of the first round of the presidential election, in Barranquilla, Colombia May 31, 2026. (Charlie Cordero/Reuters)
In an interview with the Associated Press, de la Espriella pledged to open mega-prisons and take a far more aggressive approach toward criminal groups. “Criminals will either surrender or leave the country,” he said.
The vote comes as Colombia faces rising violence, expanding criminal organizations and growing criticism of President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” strategy, which sought negotiations with armed groups and criminal networks.
AT LEAST 80 PEOPLE KILLED IN NORTHEAST COLOMBIA AS PEACE TALKS FAIL, OFFICIAL SAYS
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro attends the COP16 Summit in Cali, Valle del Cauca, on Oct. 29, 2024. (Luis Acosta/AFP)
“Colombia heads into a June 21 runoff with armed groups controlling vast stretches of the country, a failed ‘Total Peace’ negotiating strategy leaving communities more exposed than when it began, and a Venezuelan refugee crisis that has overwhelmed the state’s already thin capacity to govern its own territory,” Daniel Swift, senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Fox News Digital.
Maldonado said Colombia’s election reflects a wider political shift taking place across Latin America.
“This election is part of a broader trend across Latin America, where voters are increasingly rejecting the failed promises of the left in favor of security, sovereignty and economic opportunity,” she said.
ECUADOR’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION GOES TO RUNOFF BETWEEN CONSERVATIVE INCUMBENT, LEFTIST LAWYER
Colombia’s presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda of the Pacto Historico party speaks to supporters during his final campaign rally in Barranquilla, Atlántico department, on May 24, 2026. (Vanessa Romero/AFP)
“We’ve seen it in Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Honduras, Costa Rica and now increasingly in Colombia.”
Swift agreed the election results reflect a broader regional trend.
He said with de la Espriella outperforming “every poll, with security at the top of every voter’s mind — confirms that Colombia is part of a broader regional reckoning: Latin Americans are losing patience with governments that cannot provide security,” Swift said.
Maldonado said the results reflected mounting frustration with the country’s direction under Petro.
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A supporter of Colombia’s presidential candidate for the Defensores de la Patria party, Abelardo de la Espriella, takes a selfie as she awaits his arrival to his last campaign rally in Barranquilla, Colombia, on May 23, 2026. (Vanessa Romero/AFP via Getty Images)
“Years of growing insecurity, rising coca cultivation, expanding criminal organizations, and concessions to armed groups have left many Colombian people frustrated with the direction of the country,” she added.
The June 21 runoff is expected to focus heavily on security policy, organized crime and Colombia’s future relationship with the United States under the Trump administration. Maldonado argues it “offers Colombia an opportunity to begin reversing course and reestablish a principle that should have never been up for debate: criminal organizations should be confronted, not negotiated with.”
The EU and European Parliament on Monday agreed a controversial law aimed at speeding up the return of migrants with no legal right to stay in Europe, marking the bloc’s toughest migration policy shift in decades.
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Policymakers say the so-called Return Regulation is key to accelerating returns and is the cornerstone of the EU’s crackdown on irregular migration.
It also reflects a broader political shift in Europe, with conservatives — sometimes backed by the far right — pushing for a tougher approach to migration.
According to official figures, only 29% of migrants with no legal right to remain in Europe leave the EU.
“This is a really very important step in making sure that we have control over what is happening in the EU, over who comes but also who has to leave the EU,” Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner told reporters at the end of the talks.
At the heart of the law is a provision allowing EU countries to set up deportation centres outside the bloc, known as return hubs, if they conclude an agreement with a non-EU country.
“The next step is working more on migration diplomacy, together with third countries,” Brunner said, avoiding mentioning any possible third country to place return hubs.
The hubs can be either places of transit or locations where a person is expected to stay, marking a significant departure from current rules.
Most migrants can only be returned to their country of origin or to a country with which they have a proven connection. Under the new system, that requirement would be removed. Only unaccompanied minors would be exempt from being deported to a return hub, while families with children will be eligible.
Some EU countries are already working to identify potential partner countries for future return centres. Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Greece teamed up last March to implement the controversial project, while Italy is already running a similar scheme in Albania, with two centres accommodating fewer than a hundred migrants in total.
The law also allows EU countries to search a “place of residence or other relevant premises” of irregular migrants, a provision that NGOs and civil society compare to the notorious raids conducted by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“The provision is vague on purpose, to allow a broad interpretation in the different member states. It opens the doors to home raids and also raids in the premises of associations helping migrants and healthcare facilities,” Eleonora Celoria from Asgi, an Italian association of legal experts, told Euronews.
While she acknowledged that in many member states, police will still need a judicial warrant to enter private residences, she described the law as “worrying”, as it can encourage authorities to broaden their powers.
Other provisions include longer detention periods, tougher entry bans and new powers to locate irregular migrants.
The maximum legal detention period for irregular migrants waiting to be returned is increased from six months to two years, with a possible six-month extension and an unlimited duration for persons considered as posing a security risk.
Entry bans would also become significantly tougher, rising from five to ten years in most cases, with the possibility of lifetime bans for those considered a security risk.
Another change concerns appeals. Under current rules, deportations are automatically suspended while legal challenges are pending, while the new law would end that automatic protection, leaving courts to decide on a case-by-case basis whether a return order should be halted.
The regulation also introduces a European Return Order to facilitate the mutual recognition of return decisions across member states, but it will remain voluntary.
The implementation timeline was the most difficult issue in negotiations between the Council and Parliament. Under the compromise deal, some provisions will take effect 12 months after the regulation enters into force. The Council initially pushed for two years.
Civil society associations and left-wing MEPs have criticised the text, saying it will put migrant lives in danger and violate fundamental rights.
“The text finalised today is the result of a shameful agreement: the legal arsenal serving a xenophobic ideology is now complete,” Greens/EFA MEP Mélissa Camara told Euronews after the talks concluded.
“This regulation will create a draconian detention and deportation system, from holding people in immigration detention for up to 30 months to tearing families apart and sending people to countries they do not know,” said Silvia Carta, advocacy officer at Picum, a network of different organisations supporting undocumented migrants.
The law will now need to be formally approved by MEPs and EU countries and could enter into force as soon as next month.
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