The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has extended the deadline for public comments on its proposed rulemaking, Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings, to October 30.
The rule was proposed last year during the last year of the Biden Administration, and is intended to update the heat standard, which has been a contentious issue at times because of labor union advocacy and the use of workplace heat conditions as a weapon in their organizing campaigns targeting nonunion employers.
The rules proposal broached last year covered topics such as requirements for employers to develop written plans, definition of the clothing that should be allowed, acclimatizing workers to high-heat situations, maintaining adequate hydration, allowing frequent breaks based on the severity of the heat, and standards for training employees in how to deal with different levels of heat and assess its impact on their health.
A measure of the intense level of interest in this topic is the fact that OSHA has received more than 43,000 comments on the proposed rule as of September 17.
Submission of post-hearing comments is limited to those people and organizations who earlier had submitted a notice of their intent to appear at the informal virtual public hearing on the topic that was held by the agency on June 16. A large number of union and business groups testified at the June hearing.
Sarah Goodman, a labor attorney with the law firm of Offit Kurman, said, “This proposed rule is poised to reshape how employers across industries manage heat hazards. However, for employers with existing plans, the good news is that OSHA’s rule doesn’t mandate changes if your program already includes the proposed elements. However, aligning your plan with OSHA’s requirements could be a smart move to avoid General Duty Clause violations.”
Of course, the shape of the final rule will be determined by an OSHA that is now part of the administration of President Donald Trump, which has sought to scrutinize and change federal regulations with a view to reducing administrative burdens on employers.
At the time the rules proposal was announced by OSHA last year, attorneys advised employers to take steps to ensure their practices more closely resemble those contained in the agency draft rulemaking. The agency already has targeted employers by using its ability to impose General Duty Clause violations during a National Emphasis Program (NEP) inspecting workplaces for excessive heat that it pursued during 2022. (In the absence of specific regulations, OSHA’s enabling law allows it to find that employers have violated their general obligation to provide a safe and healthy workplace for their employees.)
