This audio is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any comments.
Dive brief:
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will accept public comments until Dec. 30 on its proposed rule to issue a heat injury and illness prevention standard for both outdoor and indoor jobs, according to a Thursday filing in The Federal Register.
- OSHA had previously announced its proposed rule last month and informed interested parties that the publication in the Federal Register was to be published. The rule would require employers to develop a heat injury and illness prevention plan, as well as provide water, breaks and indoor heat control when needed. Other requirements include making plans for workers not used to working in extreme heat.
- In addition, the rule would apply to all employers who perform outdoor and indoor work in all general industrial, construction, marine, and agricultural sectors where OSHA has jurisdiction, except as specified by the rule.
Diving knowledge:
At more than 1,000 pages, OSHA’s proposed rule contains a variety of measures that employers can implement depending on the type of workplace in which they operate. At the global level, year An estimated 18,970 work-related deaths are attributable to extreme heat each year, and according to an April report by the International Labor Organization, 2.4 billion workers are likely to be exposed to such heat during their work.
For example, the rule would require those with indoor workplaces without air conditioning to use controls to cool the work area to reduce worker exposure to ambient heat, while providing an air-conditioned rest area or have alternative means of providing air movement and humidity control. .
Meanwhile, employers with outdoor workplaces would be required to provide a shaded or air-conditioned rest area. The agency said it recognizes that providing stationary shade can be difficult in cases where workers are highly mobile, but noted that some employers have implemented controls such as canopies, umbrellas and portable shades, although it acknowledged that others consider that these types of measures were “unfeasible”. for his workplace”.
Exemptions to the rule include a provision that excludes work activities involving exposures of short duration at or above an initial heat trigger, the point above which the vast majority of occupational heat-related fatalities occur , of 15 minutes or less in any 60-minute period. . “OSHA has preliminarily concluded that intermittent exposures during this period are not likely to significantly increase core body temperature and lead to heat-related injuries and illnesses,” he said.
The National Security Council issued a statement last month support OSHA’s proposalstating that it “ensures that all workers remain free from the risks associated with working in extreme heat conditions.”
However, in Congress legislators questioned some aspects of the agency’s regulations during a July 24 hearing of the House Workforce Protection Subcommittee. Specific criticism focused on climate differences between different regions of the United States, as well as the effect of the rule’s requirements on certain types of work, such as firefighters.
OSHA said its economic feasibility analysis showed the rule would result in an average cost of less than 1 percent of revenue for most of the 298 industries studied, except five in the agriculture industries, face-to-face health or social assistance services. Overall, the agency estimated that the net cost of heat illness protections would be less than 0.5% of revenue in an industry and geographic region that would be most significantly affected by the proposed rule.
