New OSHA Initiative to Protect Workers From Extreme Heat

Although the weather is cooling down in many areas of the country, countless workers are still exposed to extreme heat while working indoors and increased outdoor temperatures will be with us again next summer due to climate change. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced this week that it is taking steps to better protect workers in hot environments and reduce the dangers of exposure to extreme heat.

OSHA is implementing an enforcement initiative on heat-related hazards and developing a National Emphasis Program on heat inspections. In addition, the administration is launching a rulemaking process to develop a workplace heat standard and forming a Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Work Group to identify and share best practices to protect workers.

Under the new enforcement initiative, OSHA Area Directors across the nation will:

• Prioritize inspections of heat-related complaints, referrals, and employer-reported illnesses and initiate an onsite investigation where possible
• Instruct compliance safety and health officers, during their travels to job sites, to conduct an intervention or open an inspection when they observe employees performing strenuous work in hot conditions
• Expand the scope of other inspections to address heat-related hazards where worksite conditions or other evidence indicates these hazards may be present.

Although heat illness is largely preventable, thousands of workers are sickened each year by workplace heat exposure. Despite widespread under-reporting, 43 workers died from heat illness in 2019, and at least 2,410 others suffered serious injuries and illnesses.

“Throughout the nation, millions of workers face serious hazards from high temperatures both outdoors and indoors,” said U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. “Amid changing climate, the growing frequency and intensity of extreme heat events is increasing the dangers workers face, especially for workers of color who disproportionately work in essential jobs in tough conditions.”

Increasing temperatures precipitated by climate change can also cause lost productivity and work hours resulting in large wage losses for workers. The economic loss from heat is estimated at to be at least US$100 billion annually—a number that could double by 2030 and quintuple by 2050 under a higher emissions scenario.