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              Congressional                                                   ____
            aResearch Service






Occupational Safety and Health

Administration (OSHA) Regulation of

Employee Exposure to Heat



Updated July 25, 2023

Employees who work outdoors, including those in industries such as construction and agriculture, may be
exposed to extreme heat conditions. Similarly, certain indoor work situations-such as bakeries,
warehouses, and steel mills-may also expose employees to unsafe heat levels. The lead federal agency
that regulates worker safety and health, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), does
not have any standards that specifically address outdoor or indoor heat exposure but has published an
Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for a proposed heat exposure standard.


Heat-Related Illnesses

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has identified several illnesses that
are related to heat exposure, including heat stroke, which can result in permanent disability or death.
Other heat-related illnesses include heat exhaustion, rhabdomyolysis, heat syncope, heat cramps, and heat
rash. Research published in 2020 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that
between 2004 and 2018 there were an average of 702 annual deaths in the United States due to heat
exposure, with an average of 415 deaths in which heat exposure was the underlying cause and 287 deaths
in which heat exposure was a contributing cause. (This includes employment-related and non-
employment-related deaths.) In 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational
Injuries reported 36 employment-related deaths due to environmental heat exposure and an average of 40
annual environmental heat exposure employment-related deaths between 2011 and 2021. Since 1972,
NIOSH  has recommended that OSHA promulgate a heat exposure standard. While Section 22 of the
Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act, 29 U.S.C. @671) authorizes NIOSH to develop
recommended occupational safety and health standards, OSHA is not required by law to promulgate
standards based on these recommendations.





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