OSHA Unveils First-Ever National Worker Heat Stress Proposal (2)

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration released a proposed rule to protect about 36 million indoor and outdoor workers from heat stress.

The proposal, appearing Tuesday on OSHA’s website, comes after the US experienced a heat dome in late June that produced scorching temperatures across a wide swath of states. OSHA has been working on the first nationwide heat stress standard (RIN:1218-AD39) since 2021 amid some of the hottest summers on record.

The agency’s planned measure would set the trigger temperature for employer remedial actions at a heat index of 80 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, employers ...