After decades of workers asking for it and advocates demanding it the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has released a Proposed Heat Illness & Injury Prevention Standard. The current proposal has been in the works since at least 2021 when OSHA published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Settings in the Federal Register. In November of 2023 the Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) Panel – which OSHA convened in August 2023 to gather feedback from small businesses, small local government entities and non-profit entities as required by the Small Business Regulatory Fairness Act (SBRFA) – concluded it’s work. In June of 2024 the proposal was sent to the Whitehouse’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to be reviewed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for interagency review as mandated by Executive Order 12866. Often in recent memory this has been viewed as both a positive step as well as a death knell for the proposal being submitted since the review process is supposedly limited to 90 days but has taken considerably longer at times.
Earlier today, August 30, OSHA published the proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register and opened a 120 day comment period. Comments are open to all and is especially important that workers respond with their lived experience. Currently the proposed standard covers all indoor and outdoor work in General Industry, Construction, Maritime and Agricultural where OSHA has jurisdiction. The current proposal covers only hot condition but it is WisCOSH‘s belief that cold working conditions should also be covered as well as moving between hot and cold work areas within a work shift. Please visit https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/30/2024-14824/heat-injury-and-illness-prevention-in-outdoor-and-indoor-work-settings to leave a comment. Be aware that anything submitted, except copywrited items, will become a part of the public record and will be viewed by anyone reading the comments. For your protection make sure you do not post anything sensitive or potentially usable to steal your identity.