On July 2, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a proposed rule on “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings.”
The proposed rule has different heat-index triggers at 80ºF and 90ºF, but with temperatures currently over 100 degrees for the past month in the Central Valley, this causes major concern to the already struggling agriculture industry. Below is an outline of what the rule would entail.
OSHA’s proposed heat illness prevention rule would:
Employers are not permitted any discretion in deciding what to do and when to address heat as a workplace hazard, specific standards must be put in place
Set an “initial heat trigger” at a heat index of 80°F, employers must provide drinking water and break areas
Set a “high heat trigger” at 90°F, employers are required to monitor for signs of heat illness and provide mandatory fifteen-minute breaks every two hours
“Develop and implement” a specific Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (HIIPP)
Designate a heat safety coordinator to “implement and monitor” the HIIPP
Evaluate their heat safety plans every year
The proposed rule sets forth a written HIIPP requirement for all employers with more than ten employees. The plan would include the following:
A “comprehensive list of the types of work activities covered by the [HIIPP]”
A description of how the employer complies with the OSHA standard
The means the employer will use to monitor temperatures (e.g., heat index or web bulb globe temperature)
Emergency phone numbers and procedures employees must follow when an employee experiences signs and symptoms of a heat-related illness and
A list of the “heat safety coordinators” with “authority to ensure compliance with all aspects of the HIIPP.”
Employers would be required to “review and evaluate the effectiveness” of their HIIPP whenever a recordable heat illness occurs and update the HIIPP “as necessary.” This means that a review would have to be performed any time an employee receives medical treatment, such as an IV, or misses a day of work due to overexposure to heat.
OSHA will be accepting comments on the proposed rule for 120 days following its formal publication in the Federal Register. The agency also plans to hold an informal public hearing on the proposed rule. If the rule passes, it would go into effect in 2026.
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