OSHA Heat Protection Rule Lags While Record Temperatures Rise

Confronted by record-high temperatures stretching from the Pacific Northwest across the U.S., the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been relying on a 51-year-old statute as its bulwark for compelling employers to protect workers from being felled by the heat.

The U.S. National Weather Service recorded this past June as the hottest on record for many parts of the Northwest. And historic temperatures are expected to increase over time, as 19 of the warmest years on record have occurred since 2000, according to NASA data.

OSHA hasn’t promulgated a heat standard, though “a rulemaking on Heat Illness Prevention ...