OSHA Seeks Public Comment For Proposed Heat Standard

As we discussed in September, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has now started the process of creating a federal standard to protect indoor and outdoor workers from heat injury and illness. Rather than issue a proposed rule for public comments, OSHA has issued an “Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,” to first seek information on issues that OSHA can consider in developing the standard.

This Advanced Notice provides an overview of the problem of heat stress in the workplace and of measures that have been taken to prevent it. Throughout this overview, OSHA poses questions for employers to solicit information it will use to craft the standard.

The public comment period is open through December 27, 2021, and the Advanced Notice details how to submit comments. All comments become part of the public record; as such, you can read and download comments others are making by visiting www.regulations.gov and finding Docket No. OSHA-2021-0009.

At the state level, Nevada OSHA has already proposed new regulations to address heat injury and illness. A public hearing was held on these regulations on October 14, and we are waiting for the final regulations to be issued.

As always, we will keep you posted of developments on these matters.

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