OSHA Proposes Comprehensive Heat Injury Prevention StandardOSHA Proposes Comprehensive Heat Injury Prevention Standard On July 2, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) unveiled a proposed standard aimed at preventing heat injury and illness in the workplace. Proposed Requirements: * Water and Shade: Employers must provide access to potable water and paid breaks in designated areas with artificial or natural shade when the heat index reaches or exceeds 80°F. * Heat Acclimation: New employees or those returning from sick leave will undergo a gradual heat acclimation process over several days. * Paid Breaks: Employers must provide paid rest breaks of at least 15 minutes every two hours. * Heat Safety Coordinators: Employers must designate heat safety coordinators to monitor heat conditions and provide guidance. * Monitoring: Employers must monitor employees for signs and symptoms of heat-related illness. * Training: Employers must provide training on heat stress hazards, risks, signs, and symptoms of heat-related illnesses, and emergency procedures. Exceptions: The proposed standard does not apply to: * Work with no heat exposure expectation * Short-term heat exposure (15 minutes or less per hour) * Emergency response * Air-conditioned or dehumidified indoor work areas * Remote work and sedentary indoor work with minimal physical exertion Emergency Procedures: Heat injury prevention plans (HIIIPs) must include emergency response procedures. Enforcement: In the absence of a specific heat injury standard, OSHA has often used the General Duty Clause to penalize employers following heat-related fatalities or hospitalizations. Industry Implications: The proposed standard applies to all industries. If adopted, general industry regulations (1910 CFR) will include references to the standard. Additional Documents: OSHA has published additional documents on the rulemaking: * Background information * Past actions * Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) report * Rulemaking file
On July 2, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released the text of a proposed standard for heat injury and illness prevention. The proposed regulations would include requirements for water, shade, paid breaks, heat acclimation and training.
Heat injury and illness prevention requirements would be triggered by a National Weather Service heat index of 80° Fahrenheit (F) or a wet-bulb temperature equal to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommended exposure limit (RAL). A “high heat trigger,” or a heat index of 90° F or a wet-bulb temperature equal to the NIOSH recommended exposure limit (REL), would trigger additional employer requirements.
Formulas for NIOSH’s RAL and REL are provided in the institute’s publication. Criteria for a recommended standard: Occupational exposure to heat and hot environments.
Exceptions to the standard include:
- Work where there is no reasonable expectation of exposure at or above the initial heat trigger level;
- Short-term exposure of workers to heat equal to or greater than the initial heat trigger for 15 minutes or less in any 60-minute period;
- Emergency response, including emergency medical care, firefighting, technical search and rescue, and workplace emergency response;
- Work carried out in indoor work areas or vehicles where air conditioning keeps the ambient temperature constantly below 27°C;
- Remote work; And
- Sedentary work indoors that involves a combination of sitting, occasional standing, short periods of walking, and occasional lifting of objects weighing less than 10 pounds.
If the proposed standard is adopted, employers would be required to develop and implement heat injury and illness prevention plans (HIIPP) involving non-managerial employees and their representatives. Employers with more than 10 employees would be required to have written plans, and all employers would be required to designate one or more heat safety coordinators.
Employers should implement plans to monitor heat conditions in the workplace. Once heat conditions reach or exceed the initial heat trigger (a heat index of 80°F), employers would be required to provide potable water and paid breaks (a minimum 15-minute paid rest break at least every two hours) in designated break areas. Outdoor work areas would require break areas with artificial (pavilions or tents) or natural shade (trees). Indoor break areas would include air-conditioned and dehumidified break areas, where appropriate.
Heat acclimation for new workers would consist of gradually increasing exposure periods over several days—not more than 20% of normal work shift exposure on the first day of work, 40% on the second day, 60% on the third day, and 80% on the fourth day. An acclimation schedule for workers returning from sick leave or vacation would be limited to not more than 50% of normal work shift exposure on the first day, 60% on the second day, and 80% on the third day.
Employers should monitor employees for signs and symptoms of heat-related illness. Options for monitoring could include a mandatory buddy system or observation by a supervisor or heat safety coordinator. However, a supervisor or heat safety coordinator should not observe more than 20 employees. Employers should also maintain effective two-way communication (telephone or radio) for employees who are alone in a work area.
A HIIPP should also include emergency response procedures. Training should cover heat stress hazards, heat-related injuries and illnesses, risk factors (age, alcohol consumption, clothing, health status and medications, and use of personal protective equipment (PPE)), signs and symptoms of heat-related injuries and illnesses, and the identity of the heat safety coordinator, as well as the requirements of the standard.
In the absence of a standard, OSHA currently fines employers, often following a fatality or hospitalization, using its authority under the General Duty Clause (§5(a)(1)) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has repeatedly vacated OSHA fines and penalties, calling the agency’s enforcement of the General Duty Clause a “gotcha” or “catch-all” for hazards without established standards.
There are no industry-specific proposals. If adopted as proposed, OSHA regulations for shipyard employment (29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1915), marine terminals (1917), longshoring (1918), and construction (1926) would include references to the general industry standard in Part 1910.
The agency has also published three additional documents containing the text of the proposals:
OSHA has also provided links to the background to the rulemaking, past actions, the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) report, and the rulemaking file on an agency webpage.
