California is bracing for another year of intense summer heat, and regulators will be paying close attention to how employers respond. For HR leaders, that means heat safety isn’t just about checking compliance boxes — it’s about ensuring protections are visible, accessible, and consistently applied across the worksite.
A key enforcement trend is that many violations stem from breakdowns in the most basic protections, not complex regulatory misunderstandings. The simple provisions of water and shade continue to drive a large share of citations, according to Karen Tynan, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Sacramento. Her team regularly reviews OSHA data, and she notes that while some employers are cited for technical issues like failing to keep a plan on-site, “most often we see citations that allege a lack of shade or lack of access to water that is potable, suitably cool and close to the workers.”
This pattern reveals a gap between written policies and day-to-day execution. Even when employers have compliant plans, they may fall short in making those protections usable in practice — something inspectors can quickly identify during a site visit.
Regulators increasingly expect heat safety to show up in routine workplace interactions, not just in a binder. Tynan underscored that “reviewing heat illness symptoms and procedures at morning safety meetings and during employee briefings is critical,” pointing to these touchpoints...
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