OSHA Seeks Input for Worker Safety Rule on Heat Hazards

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is publishing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking for heat injury and illness prevention.

Currently, OSHA does not have a specific standard for hazardous heat conditions and this action begins the process to consider a heat-specific workplace rule.

The new rule would address both outdoor and indoor work settings. The agency said heat is the leading weather-related workplace hazard.

“While heat illness is largely preventable and commonly underreported, thousands of workers are sickened each year by workplace heat exposure, and in some cases, heat exposure can be fatal,” said Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jim Frederick.

The Labor Department seeks to protect outdoor workers, including agricultural, construction and delivery workers, along with those working indoors in warehouses, factories and kitchens. The administration said farm and construction workers are at greatest risk of heat stroke and other problems.

OSHA’s rulemaking for is part of a wider Biden administration initiative to protect workers from hazardous heat.

The administration has said it will also expand the government’s low income home energy assistance program to help recipients purchase air conditioning units or pay electric bills for cooling assistance.

Biden Multi-Agency Plan Seeks to Address Extreme Heat Stress

The OSHA notice initiates a comment period to gather comments on topics such as heat-stress thresholds, heat-acclimatization planning and exposure monitoring. Comments can be submitted at www.regulations.gov,

Source: OSHA

Photo: Pedro Lucas, left, nephew of farm worker Sebastian Francisco Perez who died last weekend while working in an extreme heat wave, breaks up earth, Thursday, July 1, 2021, near St. Paul, Ore. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Topics Workers' Compensation