OSHA to Hold Public Hearing on Proposed Heat Injury and Illness Standard
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is hosting a virtual public hearing on June 16, 2025, on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Health Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings.
The heat injury and illness NPRM was published in the Federal Register on August 30, 2024, and requires employers in all general industry, construction, maritime, and agriculture sectors to create a plan to evaluate and control heat hazards in the workplace and ensure that workers are adequately protected from hazardous heat levels in indoor and outdoor work settings. In the United States, heat is the leading cause of death out of all weather-related phenomena, yet prior to the heat injury and illness NPRM, there was no federal OSHA standard regulating heat stress hazards in the workplace, only guidance from governmental and non-governmental organizations on measures to protect workers.
Exposure to excessive heat poses a significant risk of illness and injury. In many industries, workers are required to work through shifts with prolonged heat exposure, including outdoor settings and indoor locations close to radiant heat sources such as ovens and furnaces. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 1,042 documented fatalities in the workplace between 1992 and 2022 due to exposure to excessive heat, which averages 34 fatalities per year. In 2022, there were 43 work-related deaths due to heat exposure.
The BLS Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) found that an estimated 33,890 work-related heat injuries and illnesses resulted in days away from work between 2011 and 2020, averaging 3,389 heat-related injuries and illnesses per year. Between 2017 and 2022, OSHA received reports of 1,054 heat-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities, including 625 individuals requiring hospitalization and 211 heat-related fatalities in the workplace.
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OSHA believes that the figures are likely to be vastly underestimated, as not all heat-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities are reported as being caused by heat exposure, and the data only includes illnesses and injuries that required days away from work. An analysis of workers’ compensation claims in California found that there were 3 to 6 times the number of annual heat-related injuries and illnesses than were reported by BLS SOII.
The public hearing will commence on June 16, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. EDT and will continue on subsequent weekdays if necessary. The hearing will be made available online here.
