Labor Department advances heat safety rulemaking process

The Department of Labor is taking steps to address the dangers of workplace heat, moving closer to publishing a proposed rule to reduce the significant health risks of heat exposure for U.S. workers in outdoor and indoor settings.

In April, the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) presented the draft rule’s initial regulatory framework at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health. The committee, which advises the agency on safety and health standards and policy matters, unanimously recommended OSHA move forward on the notice of proposed rulemaking. As part of the rulemaking process, the agency will seek and consider input from a wide range of stakeholders and the public as it works to propose and finalize its rule.

In the interim, OSHA continues to direct significant existing outreach and enforcement resources to educate employers and workers and hold businesses accountable for violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s general duty clause, 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1) and other applicable regulations.

“Workers at risk of heat illness need a new rule to protect workers from heat hazards. OSHA is working aggressively to develop a new regulation that keeps workers safe from the dangers of heat,” says Doug Parker, assistant secretary for Occupational Safety and Health. “As we move through the required regulatory process for creating these protections, OSHA will use all of its existing tools to hold employers responsible when they fail to protect workers from known hazards such as heat, including our authority to stop employers from exposing workers to conditions which pose an imminent danger.”

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