Action Alert: New Heat Rules from OSHA October 10, 2024

Help Us Protect Outdoor Workers

OSHA Comment Period Open for Long-awaited Worker Heat Safety Legislation

Four years in the making, the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury and Fatality Prevention Act, championed by our own Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and colleagues in the House and Senate, is ready for public comments as it moves through the last stretch of the regulatory process.

Among other provisions, the bill requires that businesses with more than 10 employees adhere to two heat alert levels. When temperatures reach 80 degrees, employers must provide cool drinking water and allow workers to “acclimate” to the temperature.

When temperatures reach 90 degrees, paid rest breaks are mandatory.  

Named for the 53-year-old California farm worker who died in 2004 after 10 hours of picking grapes in temperatures as high as 105° F, it also includes provisions for employer-based training and heat-illness education as well as whistleblower protections to ensure compliance.

The legislation is supported by labor groups, including the AFL-CIO, United Farm Workers of America, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and United Auto Workers. 

Comments Due by the End of December

If passed, it will be first heat safety rule in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) history—and we need you to help us make that a reality by participating in the public hearing phase that precedes the final rule-making procedures.

The comment period closes Dec. 30, 2024. OSHA expects public hearings to begin in early 2025. Sponsors of the bill are also asking that it be fast-tracked to keep up with increasing temperatures and heat waves.

There are numerous ways to proceed.

Information on the Legislation

Landing page for Docket No. OSHA-2021-0009. The official page. You can make comments through this page, and you can also view the comments received to date. Some good suggestions being posed, like one that urged rules for truckers whose companies don’t provide in-cab air conditioning.  

Heat Protection Fact Sheet

Advocating for Federal Heat Protections (Word doc): A complete guide to the legislation process and how to prepare your comments, available from the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH).

OSHA page on the legislation and process: Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings

OSHA fact sheet on the heat legislation.

Where to Make Comments

Submissions page through COSH with sample comment

Comment page through Regulations.gov.

Comment page through Federal Register, with detailed summaries on the bills contents.

Worker Safety in Arizona

Heat safety protections at the state, county, and city levels.

“Phoenix passes heat safety ordinance for outdoor workers”: More than 600 Maricopa County citizens died from extreme heat in 2023, 400 in Phoenix alone. 

Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health expands program to address rising heat: “Mitigating heat-related illnesses and injuries at both indoor and outdoor workplaces.”

Pima County heat ordinance plus more information on heat-related resources. “Heat ordinance passed by Pima County is first of its kind in Arizona.”

City of Tucson heat ordinance.