OSHA revises heat NEP

OSHA rewrote its heat enforcement program on April 10, shifting inspections toward 55 industries it now labels high risk and dropping the old numeric inspection goal. (osha.gov) The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the revised National Emphasis Program uses OSHA and Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 2022 through 2025 to rank industries with high heat-illness rates and employers that already drew heat citations or hazard alert letters. (osha.gov) The new directive cancels the April 8, 2022 heat program, took effect immediately on April 10, 2026, and is set to remain in place for five years. OSHA said it covers general industry, construction, maritime, and agriculture. (osha.gov) A National Emphasis Program is OSHA’s way of concentrating inspectors on a single hazard or industry across the country. OSHA’s directives page says these programs are temporary and are built from inspection findings, injury data, government reports, and other evidence. (osha.gov) The revision changes how inspectors get sent out. OSHA said compliance officers will still expand inspections when they find heat hazards on “heat priority days,” and will do random heat inspections in high-risk industries when the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory or warning. (osha.gov) OSHA also rewrote the paperwork behind the program. The agency said it removed outdated background sections, updated links, added one appendix for evaluating employer heat programs and another for citation guidance, and added new tracking codes for worksite assistance and unprogrammed hazards. (osha.gov) Jackson Lewis lawyers writing in the National Law Review said OSHA retained 33 industries from the old list, removed 46, and added 22, while continuing to let inspectors broaden an inspection when they see heat risks or arrive on a day with a heat index of 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. (natlawreview.com) OSHA’s own NEP index now carries a note that this heat program “does not set inspection goals” and does not require regional offices to create their own emphasis programs, though it still sets uniform procedures for unprogrammed inspections and for any regional or state-plan heat programs that are adopted voluntarily. (osha.gov) Labor groups say that change cuts back proactive enforcement. The Stand, citing AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and the United Farm Workers, said the old approach helped drive heat inspections from about 200 a year before the 2022 program to more than 7,000 between April 2022 and December 2024. (thestand.org) OSHA is framing the rewrite differently. In its April 10 release, the agency said the update lets it direct resources “where they can make the biggest impact” and pairs enforcement with outreach, compliance assistance, and its free consultation program for small and midsize employers. (osha.gov) For manufacturers, the practical question is no longer whether heat stays on OSHA’s list; it does. The question is which plants, warehouses, kitchens, foundries, and outdoor sites now fall inside the 55-industry target map, and whether a heat advisory, a severe injury report, or evidence found during another inspection brings OSHA to the door. (osha.gov)