On Tuesday, June 24, KCMA CEO Betsy Natz, along with regulatory counsel Manesh Rath, testified at a public hearing of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on the proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings rule.
According to OSHA, "the proposed standard would apply to all employers conducting outdoor and indoor work in all general industry, construction, maritime, and agriculture sectors where OSHA has jurisdiction. The standard would require employers to create a plan to evaluate and control heat hazards in their workplace. It would clarify employer obligations and the steps necessary to effectively protect employees from hazardous heat. The ultimate goal is to prevent and reduce the number of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities caused by exposure to hazardous heat."
During her opening comments, Natz urged the agency to carefully reconsider whether it has the authority to promulgate a one-size-fits-all federal heat standard and whether such a standard, if adopted, would meaningfully improve worker safety. Rath added that KCMA members are concerned about whether OSHA has the statutory authority to promulgate a national heat standard.
In addition to questioning the overall legality, Rath pointed out that the trigger for the policy only considers environmental heat, ignoring available science that shows that heat stress is the sum of (a.) the heat generated in the body (metabolic heat), plus (b.) the heat gained from the environment (environmental heat), minus the heat lost from the body to the environment. (See NIOSH report on Occupational Exposure to Heat and Hot Environments.)
Natz continued by pointing out that the manufacturing sector would be disproportionately affected by the draft standard's requirements, as many proven interventions are already in place, including access to water and fans and shifts designed to avoid peak daytime temperatures. OSHA’s one-size regulation would still impose upon manufacturers the remainder of the programming requirements — such as testing, training, monitoring, recordkeeping.
In closing, Natz told the panel that KCMA would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with OSHA and a wide spectrum of manufacturers to create a final rule that is more workable - and safer - for the nation's manufacturing sector.
