April 29, 2022
Contact: Office of Communications
Phone: 202-693-1999

 

US Department of Labor to hold public meeting to provide overview
of OSHA initiatives to protect workers from heat hazards

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration will hold a stakeholder meeting May 3, 2022, to provide an overview of and seek comments on the agency's ongoing efforts to protect workers from heat-related hazards. The meeting will be held online from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. EDT.

As part of the Biden-Harris administration's commitment to workplace safety, OSHA is working to address the threat of heat, the leading cause of death among all weather-related workplace hazards.

OSHA's efforts to address heat-related hazards include the agency's Heat Illness Prevention Campaign, compliance assistance and enforcement activities. During the meeting, the process of federal rulemaking and ways for the public to participate in the process will be discussed.

Participants must register online to attend the meeting. Individuals unable to attend and those who prefer to submit written comments must do so by Aug. 1, 2022, at www.regulations.gov, and cite Docket No. OSHA-2022-0006. Visit the Heat Forum Public Stakeholder page for more details.

Workers in outdoor and indoor work settings without adequate climate-controlled environments risk hazardous heat exposure. Statistics show workers of color are exposed disproportionately to hazardous levels of heat in essential jobs in these work settings.

OSHA recently launched a National Emphasis Program to protect millions of workers from heat illness and injuries. Through the program, OSHA will conduct heat-related workplace inspections before workers suffer completely preventable injuries, illnesses or, even worse, fatalities.

Watch a video featuring Jim Barber, who shares his story on the loss of his son from heat illness on a New York job site.

Learn more about working in outdoor and indoor heat environments.

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U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The department's Reasonable Accommodation Resource Center converts departmental information and documents into alternative formats, which include Braille and large print. For alternative format requests, please contact the department at (202) 693-7828 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (federal relay).