Restaurants with more than 10 employees would be required to draft a plan for protecting their workers from dangerous heat under new employer regulations proposed Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Labor, or DOL.
The proposed rules require that the safety measures be brainstormed in collaboration with employees. In addition, someone on premises would be designated as a "heat safety coordinator" to ensure the precautions are taken.
Those steps are largely common-sensical. They include:
The Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Plan, or HIIPP, must also cover what employees should do if a co-worker shows signs of being dangerously affected by the heat. Included in that section must be a list of all relevant emergency phone numbers, as well as suggestions on how to get an affected employee to emergency medical care.
The employer is required in those situations to pull the suffering employee off the job, do whatever they can to cool down the worker or otherwise provide first aid, and seek emergency medical care.
The HIIPP must be reviewed after any heat-related incident, and not less than once per year.
The proposed rules say the precautions should be in place for an initial heat index -- a measure that takes into account the ambient humidity -- of at least 80 degrees or a straight temperature of 90 degrees.
The Labor Department issued the requirements as a proposed rule, meaning stakeholders and other members of the public can provide input before final regulations are drafted and promulgated. The mandates take effect 150 days after those final rules are issued.
The regulations would be enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA.
The precautions were issued in the heart of what is expected to be the hottest U.S. summer ever recorded. Over the Fourth of July holiday, temperatures in much of California are expected to top 110 degrees. Other areas of the country are just emerging from a heat wave that swept from the West Coast all the way through New England.
Five states require employers to take steps for protecting employees from excessive heat in the workplace, but there are no codified federal requirements.
"We have long advocated for an OSHA heat standard," Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said in response to the proposed national rules. "We are motivated and encouraged by the latest news from OSHA, as it signifies a vital advancement in worker safety. ... As climate change raises global temperatures, comprehensive heat protection standards are increasingly urgent."
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