States Pitch New Cold Weather Safety Rules Absent OSHA Action

State lawmakers across the country are proposing new requirements for companies to protect their workers from extreme cold, further complicating the existing patchwork of weather-related safety rules for multi-state employers.

Seven states have laws in place already requiring employers to protect their workers from heat stress. The addition of new cold weather proposals reflect a growing concern about the impact of climate change on worker safety and the regulatory gap left at the federal level by a lack of a safety standard from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration addressing the issue.

If the bills become law next year when statehouses come back into session, employers face increased compliance costs dealing with an uneven set of complex laws across jurisdictions, attorneys say. Large employers would need to juggle varying safety programs and ensuring they’re properly implemented, said Daniel Deacon, a partner at Conn Maciel Carey.

“That involves training and oversight, making sure that local management, supervisors are implementing it as it should be,” Deacon said. “It’s definitely something that employers struggle with because it’s easy to manage and implement one policy that can be rolled out nationwide, that’s not something you can do” here.

Most state workplace safety plans, as well as OSHA, currently rely on a type of catch-all provision such as the general duty clause, to enforce safe working conditions when temperatures are either hot or cold enough to hurt people. OSHA is expected to issue a heat stress standard, but in the meantime states are stepping in to create their own by legislating more broadly and extending protections to cold working conditions.

This year alone, 18 state lawmakers proposed legislation on workplace temperature protections—more than double proposed in 2024—according to Sandy Dornsife, a policy analyst for MultiState, a government relations firm. None became law, but this will continue to be a priority for lawmakers in 2026, she said.

State Legislatures Lead

OSHA standards preempt state law, but states can create their own plans or regulate workplace safety and health issues not covered by federal standards.

So now it’s a race between state lawmakers and OSHA to get a weather standard into place.

Illinois House Rep. Edgar Gonzalez Jr. (D) introduced the Workplace Extreme Temperature Safety Act trying to make the state the first under OSHA’s jurisdiction for private employers to address cold stress, in addition to heat.

The bill advanced out of the state’s House Labor and Commerce Committee but its companion bill in the Senate never advanced beyond introduction. Gonzalez is expected to reintroduce the measure in 2026 if OSHA doesn’t create a federal heat standard first.

“If OSHA’s heat illness standard is not completed, I would not be surprised to see the Illinois legislature take another crack at it,” said Aaron Gelb, a co-managing partner for Conn Maciel Carey based in Chicago who leads the firm’s Midwest OSHA Defense Team.

The Illinois proposal would’ve required employers to offer warm, non-caffeinated drinks to employees and climate-controlled rest areas—among other things—when temperatures dropped near freezing levels. Workers outdoors would get protections when the temperatures drop below 40 degrees Fahrenheit and indoor workers got protections when temperatures dropped below 65 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the level of physical exertion of the job.

Rhode Island Sen. Louis DiPalma (D) introduced, SB-0586, which passed the Senate before being stalled in the House.

DiPalma’s bill would set temperature thresholds below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Rhode Island would’ve also required companies in warehousing, construction, and transportation to establish more protections for workers such as supplying adequate insulation and equipment for heat and cooling workers down.

DiPalma said in a statement the effects of climate change are being felt by people in industries like construction, where workers are exposed to the weather.

“As policymakers, it’s critical that we adapt our approach to ensure workers are protected, especially at a time when state leadership is more important than ever,” DiPalma said. “It also means employers need to understand the challenges workers face during extreme temperatures and provide the necessary support and accommodations.”

State Plan Enforcement

State-run OSHA plans can go further than the federal agency by establishing stricter standards.

Minnesota and Washington are the only states to have catch-all safety standards that address cold stress but few citations have been issued against employers for exposing workers to the cold.

The Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires employers to maintain a minimum air temperature of at least 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

Since fiscal year 2020, Minnesota OSHA has issued 11 citations for cold working conditions, according to James Honerman, an agency spokesman.

The Washington Department of Labor and Industries Division of Occupational Safety and Health has a cold stress rule that pertains only to firefighters, but the state uses a general rule to protect workers in cold conditions.

“We do have a more general rule about protecting workers who face extreme temperatures in either hot or cold circumstances,” said Dina Lorraine, public information officer at Washington’s Labor Department. “Employers in those cases are required to take steps to keep workers safe.”

States like California, Oregon, and Washington tend to lead in agenda-setting efforts for worker protections, while red and purple states with OSH plans like Kentucky usually let the federal government lead the way.

“Washington is the same, if not more than California, when it comes to their own regulation of safety,” said Deacon, who leads the firm’s efforts in Washington.