House Committee Advances Bill Preventing OSHA From Implementing Heat Standard
A bill that seeks to prohibit the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from issuing a standard on heat illness and heat injury prevention has been advanced by the House Education and Workforce Committee and will now face a full vote in the House of Representatives.
OSHA was seeking to implement a new standard, Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings, that would require employers to evaluate and control heat hazards in both indoor and outdoor workplaces. If passed, employers would be required to have a site-specific heat injury and illness prevention plan and implement control measures if temperatures exceeded an initial 80°F threshold, with more robust measures required if temperatures exceeded 90°F.
The requirements included providing employees with cool drinking water, rest breaks in the shade, fans to control indoor heat, and easing new workers into hot environments over a period of days to help them acclimatize. The standard also requires regular training for workers and supervisors on the signs of heat stress, reporting, and emergency response.
If passed, the standard will apply to general industry, construction, maritime, and agriculture sectors where OSHA has jurisdiction. OSHA published its proposed rule in the Federal Register on August 30, 2024; the comment period closed on January 14, 2025; and following a public hearing in July 2025, the post-hearing comment period ended in late October 2025. OSHA has yet to provide a timeline for when a final rule will be issued.
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In November 2025, Representative Mark Messmer (R-IN) introduced the Heat Workforce Standards Act of 2025, which seeks to prohibit OSHA from implementing a Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings final rule, or any substantially similar heat standard in the future. Critics of the standard claim that the standard preempts local and state governments from developing targeted rules to meet their specific regional climates, that the standard will place a significant financial strain on small businesses, and that some of the required measures are impractical for certain industry sectors and jobs.
“It’s not fair to propose a one-size-fits-all federal mandate that applies to very disparate industries, climates and workplace environments,” Messmer said. The bill was advanced to a full House vote after the Committee on Education and Workforce voted 18-15 in favor, along party lines.
“The committee is marking up legislation that actively makes workers less safe on the job while exposed to extreme heat,” Rep. John Mannion (D-NY) said. Mannion also stressed that the bill not only seeks to prohibit the current proposed standard but also prevents OSHA from implementing any similar standard in the future. “Let’s be clear on exactly what we’re talking about here and what the majority objects to: Simply, that employers have a plan in place to protect workers from excessive heat, and that includes things like drinking water, rest breaks in the shade and fans to control indoor heat. Basic standards around occupational heat exposure are just commonsense measures to keep workers safe.”
