INSIGHTi
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) Regulation of
Employee Exposure to Heat
July 13, 2021
Employees who work outdoors, including those in industries such as construction and agriculture, may be
exposed to extreme heat conditions. Similarly, certain indoor w ork situations—such as bakeries,
warehouses, and steel mil s—may also expose employees to unsafe heat levels. The lead federal agency
that regulates worker safety and health, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), does
not have any standards that specifical y address outdoor or indoor heat exposure.
Heat-Related Illnesses
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has identified several il nesses that
are related to heat exposure, including heat stroke, which can result in permanent disability or death.
Other heat-related il nesses include heat exhaustion, rhabdomyolysis, heat syncope, heat cramps, and heat
rash. Research published in 2020 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that
between 2004 and 2018 there were an average of 702 annual deaths in the United States due to heat
exposure, with an average of 415 deaths in which heat exposure was the underlying cause and 287 deaths
in which heat exposure was a contributing cause. (This includes employment-related and non-
employment-related deaths.) In 2019, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational
Injuries reported 43 employment-related deaths due to environmental heat exposure and an average of 38
annual environmental heat exposure employment-related deaths between 2011 and 2019. Since 1972,
NIOSH has recommended that OSHA promulgate a heat exposure standard. While Section 22 of the
Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act, 29 U.S.C. §671) authorizes NIOSH to develop
recommended occupational safety and health standards, OSHA is not required by law to promulgate
standards based on these recommendations.
OSHA and Heat Exposure
OSHA does not currently have any specific heat exposure standards. A potential standard on Heat Il ness
Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings is listed as being in the “prerule stage” on the
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Department of Labor’s Spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions with a
timetable of October 2021 for a request for information. This potential standard was not included in
previous versions of the unified regulatory agenda. In 2011, OSHA launched a heat il ness prevention
campaign that includes guidance to employers and employees, a smartphone app that provides location-
specific information on heat conditions and heat exposure prevention and first aid, and educational
materials such as posters and pamphlets (an example of an OSHA heat il ness prevention poster is
provided in Figure 1 at the end of this report), and graphics and videos in English and Spanish.
In the absence of a specific standard, OSHA may enforce Section 5(a) of the OSH Act (29 U.S.C.
§654(a)), commonly referred to as the “general duty clause,” which requires each employer to provide a
workplace that is free of “recognized hazards” causing or likely to cause “death or serious physical harm”
to its employees.
As a recent example of the use of the general duty clause to cite an employer for a failing to protect
employees from heat exposure, in March 2021, OSHA cited Val ey Produce Harvesting and Hauling
Company for a wil ful violation of the general duty clause by exposing sugar cane harvesting employees
in Florida to “excessive heat, elevated temperature working conditions, direct sun radiation and thermal
stress” while working outdoors in September 2020. OSHA assessed the maximum al owable civil
monetary penalty of $136,532 for this violation, which was later reduced through an informal settlement
with the employer to $81,919.20.
State Occupational Safety and Health Standards
Section 18 of the OSH Act (29 U.S.C. §667) authorizes states to establish their own occupational safety
and health plans and preempt standards established and enforced by OSHA. OSHA must approve state
plans if they are “at least as effective” as OSHA’s standards and enforcement. Currently, 21 states and
Puerto Rico have state plans that cover al employers, and five states and the U.S. Virgin Islands have
state plans that cover only state and local government employers not covered by the OSH Act. Two states,
California and Washington, have state occupational safety and health standards that cover outdoor heat
exposure. Minnesota has a state standard that covers indoor heat exposure. Oregon has a draft permanent
heat exposure standard, not yet finalized, that would cover outdoor exposure and indoor heat exposure
caused by outdoor weather conditions not insulated by a climate control system rather than work
processes such as heat generated by equipment. On July 8, 2021, Oregon adopted temporary rules,
effective through January 3, 2022, that cover outdoor heat exposure and indoor heat exposure caused by
outdoor weather conditions.
Legislation to Require OSHA to Promulgate a Heat
Exposure Standard
In the 117th Congress, H.R. 2193 and S. 1068, both titled as the Asuncion Valdivia Heat Il ness and
Fatality Prevention Act of 2021, would require OSHA to propose within two years of enactment and
promulgate within 42 months of enactment a heat exposure standard to cover outdoor and indoor
workplaces. This standard would have to be at least as protective as any state standard and would have to
meet specific requirements outlined in the legislation. Both bil s are named after Asuncion Valdivia, a
California farmworker who died from heat stroke in 2004.
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Figure 1. OSHA Health Illness Prevention Campaign Poster
Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration, https://www.osha.gov/publications/bytopic/heat-il ness-
prevention.
Notes: This poster is also available in Spanish.
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Author Information
Scott D. Szymendera
Analyst in Disability Policy
Disclaimer
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