WCHA Public Comment on OSHA Heat Rule
Workplace protections to prevent heat-related illness are an essential climate adaptation, OSHA public comment ends today (Tuesday, January 14), public hearing is scheduled for June 16, 2025
Public comments can be submitted to OSHA at https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/OSHA-2021-0009-4761 through 10:59 pm Central time tonight (Tuesday, January 14). You can view submitted comments via the Federal Register: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/30/2024-14824/heat-injury-and-illness-prevention-in-outdoor-and-indoor-work-settings. As of this writing over 29,700 comments have been received.
Please feel free to borrow ideas or text below for your own advocacy to support workplace protections for heat.
U.S. Department of Labor
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
200 Constitution Avenue, NW
Room Number N3626
Washington, D.C. 20210
January 14, 2025
Wisconsin Community Health Action (WCHA) strongly supports OSHA's proposed rule on heat illness prevention, with the addition of comments below. WCHA is also requesting the holding of informal public hearings on OSHA’s proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention rule.
WCHA is an informal group of Wisconsin-based educators, workers, and concerned citizens who are working to improve public health resources and policies.
WCHA offers the following comments as recommendations to strengthen the proposed heat safety rule:
1. Incorporate new information about common health conditions of workers that may make them more vulnerable to heat.
Much of the draft rule and supporting materials are based on the idea of a healthy worker, but common conditions such as high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, or pregnancy1 can increase the risk of severe consequences of heat exposure, and these conditions should be taken into account where possible in revising the rule. The combined impact of high heat and poor air quality (including elevated ozone and PM 2.5), which has an even greater impact on patients with cardiovascular disease2, should also be considered within the draft rule.
In particular, WCHA urges OSHA to incorporate findings from a study3 published in Nov. 2024 in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, by researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and others, finding that deaths among adults receiving maintenance dialysis for kidney failure jumped between 15 and 20 percent during extreme humid-heat events. These events were defined as when the heat index was greater than 105 degrees Fahrenheit for two or more days, or more than 115 degrees for one day. Dialysis patients are often workers. According to the American Kidney Fund, one study found about one in four dialysis patients was still able to work. As of June 30, 2024, there were 519,241 patients on dialysis in the United States. If one quarter are working, approximately 130,000 people on dialysis in the US are working.
2. The rule should be revised to prescribe what an employer is required to do to address broken air conditioning or power outages, timelines for this action, and how long a worksite’s air conditioner can be out of order before the rule’s exemptions no longer apply.
3. The rule’s requirements for drinking water should be clarified to indicate the water should be cool rather than warm. Also, requirements for the employer to offer electrolytes should be added. This is an essential health protection where people are working outdoors in high heat where electrolytes are lost to increased sweating. The rule should also prescribe access to additional tools to help workers test whether they are dehydrated, such as providing guides to monitor urine color or early symptoms of dehydration.
4. The rule should be revised to provide more protections for indoor workers, including sedentary workers. Air conditioning is absent in a great many indoor worksites, including schools and assisted living facilities (for the elderly and disabled). In such settings, should workers faint in high heat, they would be unable to care for vulnerable students and residents, compounding risks for other workers there.
In a 2022 study, the Center for Climate Integrity estimated that between 1970 and 2025, there will be a 39 percent increase in the number of school districts that see 32 or more days over 80 degrees. Furthermore, 1,815 districts—serving 10.8 million students—will see three more weeks of school days over 80 degrees in 2025 than they did in 1970.4
5. Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect from occupational hazards is required in certain roles. Furthermore, use of PPE is commonplace to prevent the spread of infections, beyond specific roles or mandates. PPE can increase the risk of overheating, so safe conditions for breaks (free from occupational or infectious disease hazards) should be provided.
6. The rule should prescribe additional rest breaks if workers have elevated body temperature, early symptoms of heat-related illness,5 or conditions that may increase their heat sensitivity. Rest breaks should include parameters to prioritize recovery before returning to work. Requirements that employers offer their workers temperature check equipment, such as contactless forehead thermometers, could also be incorporated.
7. In cities, areas of increased asphalt and cement can contribute to increased heat known as the heat island effect. There can be large differences in temperature depending on location within a city.6 Anyone who lives or works in the urban heat island neighborhoods can be impacted.
8. Employees may be disproportionately impacted by heat while at work if they do not have access to cooler spaces overnight. This is because of the cumulative health effects of heat over the course of a workweek.7,8 Additionally, workers with lower incomes may not be able to afford air conditioning at home to offset this.
8. The proposed rule should mandate that workers are compensated for rest periods. This is a priority particularly for outdoor work requiring physical exertion, and frequent breaks are critical to preventing heat-related illness, such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke, during periods of extreme heat. These rest breaks should be mandatory and occur in cool or shaded areas. Workers should not fear loss of pay for observing rest periods to stay healthy in extreme heat.
9. OSHA should revise the rule to include more stringent anti-retaliation protections to empower workers to report violations without the fear of job loss or other punitive actions. OSHA should establish clear reporting channels that are accessible to non-English speakers and workers in isolated settings.
10. Climate change impacts and the expectation of ongoing increases in risks of heat impact should be included. The rule should be written to be flexible to protect workers now and in the future. According to the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts 2021 Assessment Report, compared to the year 2000, by 2050 “Milwaukee will likely experience triple the number of days with a heat index above 105 degrees”[page 78].8 The rule should protect all workers fairly, in the context that certain disadvantaged workers may have compounding risks as time goes on, due to climate change. Per the Fifth National Climate Assessment: “Structural racism and discrimination against groups that have been marginalized play a direct role in health inequities and are public health crises. Existing and projected human health impacts of climate change affect populations that are already experiencing an unprecedented decline in life expectancy due to environmental, social, political, and economic conditions that determine community health and well-being.”9
WCHA would like OSHA to convene informal public hearings on this rule, including engagement of union leaders and other worker input. However, hearings should not impede the process of revising, finalizing and implementing this life saving proposed rule as quickly as possible.
References
https://www.cdc.gov/heat-health/hcp/clinical-overview/heat-and-pregnant-women.html
American Journal of Kidney Diseases (2024). Extreme Humid-Heat Exposure and Mortality Among Patients Receiving Dialysis. https://www.ajkd.org/article/S0272-6386(24)00808-4/abstract
The Center for Climate Integrity (2021). Hotter Days, Higher Costs: The Cooling Crisis in America’s Classrooms. https://coolingcrisis.org/
Milwaukee Heat Map information (2023). https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/newsroom/release/66256 https://www.groundworkmke.org/groundwork-gis
State of California, Department of Industrial Relations. What Causes Heat Illness? https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/etools/08-006/whatcauses.htm
Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (2021). Assessment Report: Wisconsin’s Changing Climate Impacts and Solutions for a Warmer Climate. https://wicci.wisc.edu/2021-assessment-report/ pp. 78-79.
USGCRP (2023). Fifth National Climate Assessment. Crimmins, A.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock, Eds. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA. https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA5.2023 (https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/chapter/15/)