OSHA issues heat alert and steps up enforcement

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a heat hazard alert to remind employers of their obligation to protect workers against heat illness or injury in outdoor and indoor workplaces. 

OSHA will also intensify its enforcement where workers are exposed to heat hazards, with increased inspections in high-risk industries like construction. These actions will fully implement the agency’s National Emphasis Program on heat, announced in April 2022, to focus enforcement efforts in geographic areas and industries with the most vulnerable workers.

The action comes as historically high temperatures break records and expose millions of people to the serious dangers of heat in the workplace. 

Since 2011, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 436 people have died due to workplace heat exposure, with an annual average of 38 deaths between 2011 to 2019, the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) said.

In addition, an average of 2,700 cases involving heat illnesses lead to days lost at work, putting an additional economic burden on workers and employers. Statistics show that people who work in conditions without adequate climate-control face higher risks of hazardous heat exposure and that these situations disproportionately expose people of color to hazardous heat.

“As the Occupational Safety and Health Administration works toward proposing a rule to protect workers from heat illness, we are taking several measures today to better protect workers in extreme heat,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “Employers have a duty to protect workers by reducing and eliminating hazards that expose workers to heat illness or injury.”

In October 2021, OSHA began the rulemaking process to consider a heat-specific workplace standard by publishing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings in the Federal Register. As the rulemaking process for a proposed heat-specific workplace standard continues, 

OSHA has moved to protect workers from excess heat in the workplace by taking the following actions:

• Developing an enforcement initiative on heat-related hazards.
• Launching of a National Emphasis Program on heat inspections.
• Creating the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health's Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Work Group to understand challenges and share best practices to protect workers.
• Launching a Heat Illness Prevention campaign to educate employers and workers on the dangers of working in the heat.