The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration held a stakeholder meeting on May 3, 2022, to provide an overview of and seek comments on the agency’s ongoing efforts to protect workers from heat-related hazards.
As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to workplace safety, OSHA is working to address the threat of heat, the leading cause of death among all weather-related workplace hazards.
OSHA’s efforts to address heat-related hazards include the agency’s Heat Illness Prevention Campaign, compliance assistance, and enforcement activities. During the meeting, the process of federal rulemaking and ways for the public to participate in the process were discussed.
Individuals who were unable to attend and those who prefer to submit written comments must do so by Aug. 1, 2022, at www.regulations.gov, and cite Docket No. OSHA-2022-0006. Visit the Heat Forum Public Stakeholder page for more details.
Workers in outdoor and indoor work settings without adequate climate-controlled environments risk hazardous heat exposure. Statistics show workers of color are exposed disproportionately to hazardous levels of heat in essential jobs in these work settings.
OSHA recently launched a National Emphasis Program to protect millions of workers from heat illness and injuries. Through the program, OSHA will conduct heat-related workplace inspections before workers suffer completely preventable injuries, illnesses, or, even worse, fatalities.
Learn more about working in outdoor and indoor heat environments.
Source: www.OSHA.gov
