In the summer of 2024, the Biden administration’s OSHA proposed a federal worker heat protection standard. While a strong federal standard would be the most protective, its strength is still in question, and its implementation is projected to take several years or more.  Therefore, it is crucial for cities, states, territories, companies, universities and other institutions to adopt their own standards and start protecting workers from heat now before another record-breaking summer.

Currently, seven states have heat regulations: California, Colorado, Oregon, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada and Washington. However, every one of the existing state rules contains provisions that need improvement. For example, incarcerated facilities are not covered under California’s heat rule. Colorado’s heat rule only pertains to agricultural workers. Nevada’s heat regulation only requires employers to conduct a one-time review to determine if they should comply.

The BlueGreen Alliance is working with a coalition of worker centers and worker rights organizations, public health advocates, unions, and environmental groups to create rules that will protect workers from heat.  HeatJusticeNow.org  includes a wide variety of resources from the groups that are working for heat justice now.

BGA, NELP and NRDC have designed a Heat Rule Comparison Tool to equip heat rule drafters, worker heat protection advocates, and other stakeholders with practical language solutions to streamline the development of comprehensive heat regulations.

How to Use the Tool

Use this Heat Rule Comparison Tool to view details of and compare select state rules and the ANSI framework. The tool has two sections: General Provisions and HIIPP (Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Plan). Both sections consist of a table and a text box. In the table, ‘✓’  and ‘×’ symbols are used to indicate if the listed state or framework has (✓) or does not have (x) that provision in its rule. The textbox displays a full description of the provisions of any state rule or framework when selected from the table.

• Use the tool on this page or view the tool in a full screen window here.
• At the top of the tool, use the tabs to navigate between the General Provisions and HIIPP sections of the tool.
• In the body of the table, mouse over any ‘✓’ symbol to view the corresponding details as hover text.
• At the bottom of the table, use the horizontal scrollbar to see more columns.
• To the right of the textbox, use the vertical scrollbar to see more text.
• To view the full details about a particular state rules or framework, select it by clicking anywhere on the corresponding row in the table. Once selected, the details will appear in the textbox.
• To open the state rule or framework documents themselves, click on the state or framework names in the table.