OSHA has begun the process of developing a potential standard, “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings,” and recently announced plans to convene a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) Panel, later in 2023. For the SBAR Panel, it seeks representatives from small businesses, local government entities, and nonprofit entities to serve as small-entity representatives (SERs).
With this potential standard, OSHA would regulate workplace exposure to hazardous heat, addressing outdoor and indoor work in any sector where OSHA has jurisdiction, including manufacturing. Therefore, OSHA seeks participation from a wide range of sectors and welcomes SERs from any industry that might be affected. Panels will be convened virtually to listen to comments on possible options for a standard.
SBAR Panel participants will review potential options for the standard—specific to heat-related injury and illness prevention—which would clearly set forth employer obligations and the measures necessary to more effectively protect employees from hazardous heat. The ultimate goal is to prevent or reduce the number of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities caused by exposure to hazardous heat.
Topics to be considered by the SBAR Panel include:
- A programmatic approach to heat injury and illness prevention
- The scope of a potential standard
- Heat-hazard identification and assessment
- Heat-hazard prevention and control measures
- Medical treatment and heat-related emergency-response procedures
- Worker training
- Recordkeeping