Additional Resources

General Guidance about Occupational Heat Exposure

The following documents provide detailed guidance about controlling occupational heat exposure. Many of the recommendations on this website were adapted from these sources.

• NIOSH. 2016. Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Exposure to Heat and Hot Environments. Chapter 1 and Figures 8-1 and 8-2 provide a good overview of the recommendations. The remaining chapters contain more detailed information.
• ACGIH. 2017 TLVs® and BEIs®. Thermal stress: heat stress and heat strain.
• OSHA Technical Manual (OTM) Section III: Chapter 4-Heat Stress.
• Department of the Army and Air Force. 2003. TB MED 507: Heat Stress Control and Heat Casualty Management. This document provides guidelines to protect military personnel from heat stress.

Heat-Related Illnesses and First Aid

• OSHA Technical Manual (OTM) Section III: Chapter 4-Heat Stress. See Section II, entitled “Heat-related Illness."
• NIOSH. 2016. Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Exposure to Heat and Hot Environments. Section 4.2.
• Common Heat Related Illnesses. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service.
• Heat exhaustion: First aid - Mayo Clinic
• Beat the Heat. CDC podcast about occupational heat-related illness, including a discussion of symptoms.

Employer Help

• Small and medium sized businesses may contact OSHA On-Site Consultation Program for help with identifying and mitigating workplace hazards. OSHA On-Site Consultation Program offers no-cost and confidential occupational safety and health services to small- and medium-sized businesses in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories, with priority given to high-hazard worksites. On-Site Consultation services are separate from OSHA enforcement efforts and do not result in penalties or citations. Consultants from local agencies or universities work with employers to identify workplace hazards and how to fix them, provide advice for compliance with OSHA standards, provide training and education, and assist in establishing and improving safety and health programs. To locate the OSHA On-Site Consultation Program nearest you, call 1-800-321-6742 (OSHA) or visit www.osha.gov/consultation.
• OSHA has developed a printable heat-related illness prevention guide for employers.
• Heat Illness Prevention Training Guide, A Lesson Plan for Employers. OSHA. Use this training guide to lead interactive training with workers and supervisors. Can be used with the worksite poster as a training aid. Also available in Spanish.

Protecting New Workers

• NIOSH. 2016. Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Exposure to Heat and Hot Environments. Table 4-1 and Section 4.1.5.

Heat Hazard Recognition

• NIOSH. 2016. Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Exposure to Heat and Hot Environments. Chapter 8, especially Section 8.1 and Figures 8-1 and 8-2.
• ACGIH. 2017 TLVs® and BEIs®. Thermal stress: heat stress and heat strain. See Table 2 for the ACGIH TLVs® and Action Limits.

Environmental Heat Measurement

• NIOSH. 2016. Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Exposure to Heat and Hot Environments. Environmental heat is discussed in several locations including Section 1.1.2.
• ACGIH. 2017 TLVs® and BEIs®. Thermal stress: heat stress and heat strain. Explains how to use WBGT to measure the environmental contribution to heat stress.
• OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool. This smartphone application provides guidance about protecting workers from heat hazards. Keep in mind that the app’s weather data may not accurately reflect worksite conditions, and the Heat Index-based risk levels may not be sufficiently protective for all workers.
• U.S. Army Public Health Center. Heat-Related Illness Prevention. Discusses the history and current use of WBGT to measure environmental heat in a military setting.
• Bernard TE, Iheanacho I. Heat Index and Adjusted Temperature as Surrogates for Wet Bulb Globe Temperature to Screen for Occupational Heat Stress. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene 2015;12:323-333. Discusses the use of Heat Index as a surrogate for WBGT.

Workload

These resources describe how to estimate workload (physical activity level) for various job tasks.

• ACGIH. 2017 TLVs® and BEIs®. Thermal stress: heat stress and heat strain. Table 3: Metabolic rate categories and the representative metabolic rate with example activities.
• 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities.
• Eastman Kodak Company. 1986. Ergonomic Design for People at Work, Volume 2.

Clothing Adjustment

• ACGIH. 2017 TLVs® and BEIs®. Thermal stress: heat stress and heat strain. Table 1.
• NIOSH. 2016. Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Exposure to Heat and Hot Environments. Section 3.3.

Increased Risk for Some Workers and Physiologic Monitoring

• NIOSH. 2016. Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Exposure to Heat and Hot Environments. Section 4.1 discusses personal risk factors for heat-related illness. Section 9.4 and Table 9-1 give examples of physiologic monitoring methods.
• ACGIH. 2017 TLVs® and BEIs®. Thermal stress: heat stress and heat strain. Section 4 and Table 4 contain guidance for use of heart rate and body temperature to assess heat stress.
• Singer DE, Byrne C, Chen L, Shao S, Goldsmith J, Niebuhr DW. Risk of Exertional Heat Illnesses Associated with Sickle Cell Trait in U.S. Military. Mil Med. 2018 Jul 1;183(7-8):e310-e317. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usx085

Peer-Reviewed Articles that Summarize OSHA Heat Investigations

• Arbury et al. Heat Illness and Death Among Workers—United States, 2012-2013. MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2014;63(31):661-665.
• Arbury et al. A Critical Review of OSHA Heat Enforcement Cases: Lessons Learned. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2016;58(4):359-363.
• Tustin AW, Lamson GE, Jacklitsch BL, et al. Evaluation of Occupational Exposure Limits for Heat Stress in Outdoor Workers — United States, 2011–2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2018;67:733–737.
• Tustin AW, Cannon DL, Arbury SB, Thomas RJ, Hodgson MJ. Risk Factors for Heat-Related Illness in U.S. Workers: An OSHA Case Series. J Occup Environ Med. 2018 Aug;60(8):e383-e389.

Industry-Specific Resources

Agriculture

• A Guide to Heat Stress in Agriculture. OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), (May 1993). A guide to help pesticide applicators and agricultural employers set up and operate a heat stress control program.
• Heat-Related Deaths Among Crop Workers-United States, 1992-2006. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2008;57(24): 649-653.

Construction

• Questions about OSHA’s Heat National Emphasis Program (NEP). Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), 2023.
• Working in Hot Weather. CPWR. A one-page fact sheet for construction workers.
• Heat Illness Prevention Program Checklist.

Emergency Response

• Questions about OSHA’s Heat National Emphasis Program (NEP). Electrical Transmission and Distribution Construction Contractors (ET&D Partnership), 2023. 
• Heat Illness Basics for Wildland Firefighters. USDA Forest Service.

Sports and Exercise Physiology

• Armstrong LE, Casa DJ, Millard-Stafford M, Moran DS, Pyne SW, Roberts WO. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exertional heat illness during training and competition. American College of Sports Medicine, Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007 Mar;39(3):556-72. Review.