Summer Is Scorching, Why OSHA Has No Worker Heat Rule: Explained

When temperatures surpassed 100 degrees earlier this summer across the western and central US putting 180 million Americans under a federal heat alert or warning, Democratic lawmakers and labor advocates called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to act.

But OSHA has been working on a heat stress rule, starting in 2021, following a decade’s worth of advocacy groups and politicians calling for action. Supporters of a rule cite a changing climate and worker heat-related deaths as drivers of their concern.

Outside of the rulemaking, the agency has been conducting an annual heat awareness campaign since 2012 and ...