OSHA Sends Heat Illness NPRM to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking from the DOL’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) on “Heat Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings”. An advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) was published on October 27, 2021.

According to the rather lengthy abstract for this rulemaking in the Fall 2023 Unified Agenda:

“OSHA was petitioned by Public Citizen for a heat stress standard in 2011. The Agency denied this petition in 2012, but was once again petitioned by Public Citizen, on behalf of approximately 130 organizations, for a heat stress standard in 2018 and 2019. In 2019 and 2021, some members of the Senate also urged OSHA to initiate rulemaking to address heat stress.

 

“Given the potentially broad scope of regulatory efforts to protect workers from heat hazards, as well as a number of technical issues and considerations with regulating this hazard (e.g., heat stress thresholds, heat acclimatization planning, exposure monitoring, medical monitoring),  OSHA published an ANPRM on Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings (October 27, 2021) to begin a dialogue and engage with stakeholders to explore the potential for rulemaking on this topic.  For additional information, please see the Department’s fall regulatory plan narrative statement.”

I will probably not cover this rulemaking in any detail, but its eventual publication announcement will be noted in my daily Short Takes post.