The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) announced a proposed rule in July 2024 to regulate heat-related hazards in the workplace. According to OSHA, heat is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and the proposed rule seeks to protect employees who work in warm climates from hazards associated with high heat in both indoor and outdoor work settings.

As currently drafted, the proposed rule would require employers to provide at least one paid 15-minute rest break every two hours on workdays where the heat index reaches 90 degrees or higher.  However, OSHA has offered no clarification regarding implications this could have on provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), including whether the paid 15-minute breaks would apply toward overtime calculations for employees.

The proposed rule would also mandate that employers evaluate heat-related workplace hazards and implement a Heat Illness and Injury Prevention Plan (“HIIPP”) to address heat hazards. OSHA proposes that employers adopt methods such as rest breaks, shade requirements, required water drinking provisions, heat acclimatization procedures, heat monitoring, and other tactics to protect their employees from heat hazards. The HIIPP provision of the proposed rule would apply to any employers with more than 10 employees.  While employers with fewer than 10 employees would not be required to memorialize a HIIPP under the rule, they would still be obligated to communicate such a plan verbally to their works.

OSHA has based its HIIPP recommendations on state-level requirements from states including California and Oregon.  However, some states have already begun to push back on the proposed rule. Florida and Texas, for example, have both passed laws that preempt cities and counties from adopting heat stress prevention requirements.

The proposed rule has not yet been published in the Federal Register.  If the rule is published, it will be open to commentary from the public before being finalized.