Cal/OSHA Cranks Up the Heat with its New Indoor Heat Illness Prevention Standards (Effective July 23, 2024) Posted July 29, 2024
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal/OSHA”) has long enforced a heat illness prevention standard for outdoor workers. It has never implemented a similar indoor standard; instead, relying upon the Injury and Illness Prevention Program (“IIPP”) standards, which require employers to provide drinking water, emergency first aid, and medical response preparedness. In 2016, with the passage of Senate Bill 1167, Cal/OSHA made its first efforts to create an indoor heat illness prevention standard. In April 2019, Cal/OSHA published its first draft standards. The draft indoor heat illness prevention standards stalled in early 2020 and through early 2023, when Cal/OSHA focused its attention on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The draft standards then reappeared earlier this year.
On June 20, 2024, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board finally approved Cal/OSHA’s indoor heat standards. The Board also requested that the Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”) expedite its approval of the new indoor heat illness prevention standard and make the standard effective immediately. A news release dated July 24, 2024, confirmed that on July 23, 2024, the OAL approved the Board’s request to make the regulation effective immediately. You can find that new release here.
To assist employers with their compliance, on June 21, Cal/OSHA published various guidance documents, including a model written Indoor Heat Illness Prevention Plan (“HIPP”) and FAQs on the newly adopted standards, accessible here.
Here is what you need to know:
The standards apply to all indoor places of employment where the temperature equals or exceeds 82 degrees Fahrenheit, when employees are present.
The standards do not apply to: (1) remote workplaces not controlled by the employer; (2) prisons, including local detention facilities and juvenile facilities; (3) emergency operations directly involved in the protection of life or property; or (4) incidental heat exposures.
Employers must implement “feasible engineering controls” such as air conditioning or cooling fans, or “administrative controls” such as adjusting schedules and requiring mandatory breaks in the following circumstances: (1) if the temperature or heat index indoors equals or exceeds 87 degrees Fahrenheit, when employees are present; (2) when workers wear clothing that restricts heat removal and the temperature is at least 82 degrees Fahrenheit; or (3) for workers who work in a high radiant heat area where the temperature is at least 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
Employers must measure the temperature and heat index, record whichever is greater, identify and evaluate environmental risk factors for heat illness, and implement control measures such as, tracking the weather, checking for approaching heat waves, and tracking the temperature at the worksite with a thermometer on hot days.
Employers must maintain cool-down areas at all times while employees are present. A cool-down area is defined as an indoor or outdoor area that is blocked from direct sunlight and shielded from other high-radiant heat sources, and is either open to the air or provided with ventilation or cooling. The temperature in the cool-down area must be less than 82 degrees Fahrenheit, unless infeasible. The employer must allow and encourage workers to take a cool-down rest in a cool-down area for a period of no less than five minutes at a time when they feel the need to do so to protect themselves from overheating.
Employers must provide access to “adequate” water. The water must be fresh, pure, suitably cool, and fit to drink. It must be provided at no cost as close as practicable to working areas and in cool-down areas. Additionally, employers must remind and encourage workers to drink water frequently. When unlimited drinking water is not immediately available, the employer must provide enough water for every worker to be able to drink one quart of water, or four eight-ounce cups, per hour.
As quickly as possible, employers must provide first aid or emergency response to employees who exhibit signs or report symptoms of heat illness while taking a preventative cool-down rest or during a preventative cool-down rest period. Employers must have specific procedures to ensure that supervisors and workers are trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of heat illness, provide basic first aid (such as cooling towels and shade), obtain emergency medical services, and care for a worker with signs or symptoms of heat illness. Employers must be prepared to transport workers safely to a place where they can be reached by an emergency medical provider when necessary.
The employer must develop acclimatization methods and procedures for employees whose bodies are adjusting to heat exposures, and a supervisor or designee must communicate and visually check in on such workers. The FAQs note that employers should in particular observe new workers who are not acclimatized, and all employees during heat waves.
Employers must provide training on indoor heat illness prevention. This training must occur before beginning a workday that should reasonably be anticipated to result in a heat illness. Cal/OSHA has indicated that workers and supervisors must be trained about these procedures so they can understand and implement the employer's plan. Required topics are set forth in further detail in the FAQs here.
Employers must develop and implement a written HIPP which must memorialize effective procedures for complying with the requirements of these standards. The HIPP must not be a mere restatement of safety orders, but instead must be specific and customized to the employer’s operations. The HIPP may be integrated into the employer’s IIPP or can be a separate stand-alone document. The HIPP must be written in both English and the language understood by the majority of workers. It must be available to workers at the worksite, as well as to representatives of Cal/OSHA upon request. Cal/OSHA has provided a model HIPP here that can be used to help develop a company-specific HIPP. A HIPP must include, among other information:
Procedures for providing sufficient water;
Procedures for providing access to cool-down areas;
.
Procedures to measure the temperature and heat index, record whichever is greater, identify and evaluate environmental risk factors for heat illness, and implement control measures;
Emergency response procedures; and,
Acclimatization methods and procedures.
California businesses that have indoor places of employment where the temperature equals or exceeds 82 degrees Fahrenheit, must take immediate steps to comply with this new standard that became effective on July 23, 2024. This includes creating a HIPP, implementing procedures for access to water and cool-down areas, acclimatization, training employees, and emergency response measures.
For questions regarding Cal/OSHA’s indoor heat standards including drafting the HIPP or assistance with other employment law issues, contact the attorneys at LightGabler LLP.For questions regarding wage and hour issues or other employment law needs, contact the attorneys at LightGabler LLP.