On August 30, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published in the Federal Register its proposed regulations for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Settings, delivering on the Biden administration\u2019s three-year long promise to have the agency put forward a rule to protect workers from heat related injuries and deaths. The proposed measure would be the first comprehensive federal regulation to address the recent increase in heat related emergencies occurring across a large swath of workplaces, including farms, construction sites, warehouses, and commercial kitchens.<\/p>\n
Industry Backlash and Legal Uncertainty <\/strong><\/p>\n Although many states have adopted or proposed their own heat safety regulations, OSHA\u2019s proposed rules, due to their wide application and extensive requirements, have received more backlash than their state counterparts, indicating that the implementation of the rules is likely to face many challenges. The proposed regulations come in during the tail end of President Biden\u2019s first term and are also vulnerable to an administration change where Former President Donald Trump has expressed a contrary intent to roll back on OSHA\u2019s regulations on private industry, thereby indicating that his administration could block the rule\u2019s implementation. Additionally, the extent of OSHA\u2019s, as well as other federal agencies\u2019, ability to rule make and enforce their regulations has been questioned by the Supreme Court in its decision overturning the Chevron<\/em> deference in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. v. Department of Commerce<\/em>, which places the proposed rule into even more uncertainty.<\/p>\n