Employers should prepare for heat-related workplace inspections from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under a new program designed to protect indoor and outdoor workers from heat illness and injuries.
"For years, the agency investigated complaints of heat stress and heat illness and investigated hospitalizations and fatalities resulting from heat-related illness in the workplace," said Melanie Paul, an attorney with Jackson Lewis in Atlanta. "These efforts have been mostly reactive. Now, OSHA intends to ramp up outreach and enforcement in an effort to eliminate heat hazards in the work environment with the new proactive initiative."
Under the National Emphasis Program (NEP), OSHA aims to eliminate or reduce worker exposures to occupational heat-related illnesses and injuries in general industry, construction, maritime and agriculture.
"The most important part of the program is that it targets specific industries and activities, such as working outdoors in areas announced by the National Weather Service to be undergoing a heat wave, or working indoors near radiant heat sources, such as foundries," noted Arthur Sapper, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Washington, D.C.
High-Risk Industries
OSHA has targeted industries that have the highest potential to expose workers to heat-related hazards that may result in illnesses and death. The agency identified 70 high-risk industries in indoor and outdoor work settings, including the following:
| Outdoors | ...
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