OSHA updates heat enforcement
OSHA has adjusted its heat‑enforcement programme as a prior initiative expired and regulators are pressing employers toward water, rest breaks, cooling areas and acclimatisation protocols. Arizona regulators also voted to strengthen workplace heat guidelines even though they stopped short of an enforceable state standard, keeping heat safety squarely on employers' to‑do lists (businessinsurance.com) (kjzz.org).
Federal heat enforcement was about to go dark on April 8, and the Labor Department replaced it two days later with a revised program that starts immediately and runs for five years. The new version keeps heat inspections alive for both outdoor jobs like construction and indoor jobs like factories and warehouses. (osha.gov) This was not a brand-new idea. The old National Emphasis Program began on April 8, 2022, was extended in January 2025, and then expired on April 8, 2026 unless OSHA issued a replacement. (osha.gov) A National Emphasis Program is OSHA’s way of aiming inspectors at a hazard the way police put more patrol cars at a dangerous intersection. In the heat version, that means inspections and outreach are concentrated in places where workers are most likely to get sick from high temperatures. (osha.gov 1) (osha.gov 2) OSHA says the revised program now uses 2022 through 2025 data from the agency and the Bureau of Labor Statistics to target 55 high-risk industries. It also says inspectors can open random heat-focused inspections on days when the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory or warning. (osha.gov) The agency also rewrote the playbook. OSHA says it removed the old numerical inspection goal, added one appendix for judging employer heat programs and another for citation guidance, and tightened tracking so enforcement is easier to run. (osha.gov) The federal government is still working on a separate nationwide heat rule, and that process is slower than this enforcement update. OSHA’s proposed heat standard was published on August 30, 2024, public hearings ran from June 16 to July 2, 2025, and the post-hearing comment period closed on October 30, 2025. (osha.gov) That gap explains why enforcement programs matter so much right now. In its 2025 extension notice, OSHA said the heat program had already led to about 7,000 heat-related inspections, 60 citations under the General Duty Clause, and 1,392 hazard alert letters by December 29, 2024. (osha.gov) Arizona moved in the same week, but in a different way. On April 10, 2026, KJZZ reported that the Industrial Commission of Arizona voted to strengthen heat guidelines before summer while stopping short of starting rulemaking for an enforceable state standard. (kjzz.org) That distinction is the whole fight in Arizona. Guidelines tell employers what they should do, but standards let the state punish employers that do not do it, and Arizona still has no workplace heat regulation requiring specific protections. (kjzz.org) The state is not doing nothing. The Industrial Commission said on April 9 that it will update Arizona’s Heat State Emphasis Program, publish a downloadable template heat plan, launch an employer recognition program, and track complaints, injuries, fatalities, and citations before revisiting the issue later in 2026. (az.assp.org) So employers are getting pushed from both sides before the hottest months arrive. Washington is sending inspectors into high-risk workplaces under a five-year federal program, and Arizona is telling employers to build heat plans around basics like water, shade, rest, training, and acclimatization even before the state decides whether to make those steps mandatory. (osha.gov) (kjzz.org)
