Federal Heat Stress Worker Protection Rule Faces Legal Fires

Potential legal problems loom for OSHA’s proposed worker heat protection rule, ranging from setting a temperature threshold to overcoming the argument that the agency is trying to regulate a public health hazard.

The possible troubles and need for a federal heat-stress prevention standard were laid out Thursday by attorneys at the American Bar Association’s Occupational Safety and Health Committee’s midwinter meeting in Sarasota, Fla.

“It’s becoming harder to protect workers using the general duty clause in light of some recent case law,” said Anne Godoy, a senior attorney with the Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor, during the forum. ...