The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is beginning the process of establishing the first regulations for protecting workers from heat. OSHA will be gathering comments on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, or ANPR, through Dec. 27. The agency is seeking input on issues such as heat-stress thresholds, heat-acclimatization planning and exposure monitoring.
“Heat is the leading cause of death among all weather-related workplace hazards,” OSHA said in a news release. Data show that farmworkers are particularly vulnerable to heat. The average annual heat-related workplace fatality rate in all industries other than the category of agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting was 0.09 deaths per 1 million workers from 2000-2010. In the ag category, the rate was 35 times that, at 3.06 deaths per 1 million workers.