New research shows there’s a simple way to protect workers. Is OSHA listening?

New research confirms that reasonable workplace protection from extreme heat—water, shade, breaks—helps protect workers from injury on the job. The finding—something that labor and climate advocates have long known and promoted in public policy—comes just as the federal government shutdown may have stalled the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's lengthy rulemaking process aimed at creating the first U.S. nationwide heat standard for workers.

Some experts now fear that the agency, which typically takes about seven years to set new rules, will face further delays.

To calculate the risk of injury on hot days, researchers from the schools of public health at Harvard University and George Washington University used OSHA data. work injury databasebringing almost 900,000 cases since 2023. They found that 28,000 injuries were heat-related and that workers in all industries, including those who primarily work indoorswere affected. studypublished this week also found that the risk of injury begins to increase when the heat index, a measure of how temperature is actually felt by the human body, reaches 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and then becomes even more likely when the heat index exceeds 90.

“This study elegantly confirms what we have all experienced,” said Charlotte Brody, vice president of health initiatives at the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of labor and environmental groups. “When it gets really hot, it's hard to do hard work safely. And the hotter it gets, the more clumsy and fuzzy our thinking becomes.”

Much of the previous research on the effects of heat on workers has focused on diseases caused by exposure to high temperatures – for example, heatstroke, fatigue, nausea, dizziness and vomiting. By examining the likelihood of workplace injuries on hot days, researchers are identifying other hidden costs of extreme heat—for both workers and employers.

“It is clear that heat causes more than just heat illness and, unfortunately, heat-related deaths,” said David Michaels, one of the study authors and a professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. “But it also causes thousands of injuries every year. When you work in the heat, it's much easier to make mistakes.” Michaels also served as head of OSHA from 2009 to 2017.

“The numbers on this issue are a little instructive,” said Juanita Constable, a senior environmental health advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, who described the study as the first national look at the impact of heat on work-related injuries. (Barrak Alahmad, the study's lead author and a senior fellow at the Harvard T.C. Chan School of Public Health, said his team was not aware of any other national study covering the contiguous United States.)

The constable added that Worker injuries hurt employers' pocketbooks in the form of workers' compensation claims. Insurance company Liberty Mutual recently found that work-related injuries are costing employers over 58 billion dollars in 2021.

Importantly, the study also found that states that enacted their own heat standards to protect workers had a lower risk of injury on hot days compared to states without such regulations. Constable considered this article “the most important part of the article.” She added: “This is the first general look at how well the standards work to reduce these types of traumatic health problems.”

The idea that working on hot days can be not only uncomfortable, but potentially dangerous, likely won't come as a surprise to labor and climate advocates. This is also probably not surprising for those who have had to work on hot days.

“People understand this intuitively when they spend a few hours mowing the lawn and they get really hot and sick, right?” – said the Constable. “It impairs our judgment, makes our hands slippery, affects our posture.”

Over time, the human body can acclimatize to higher temperatures. But employers often use it to justify not providing workers with basic necessities such as water, rest breaks and shade, Brody said. “This study shows that hot weather leads to more workplace injuries and that smart heat management makes a difference,” she said.

OSHA is currently in progress receiving final comments from parties who testified on the Biden-era proposal for a national heat rule earlier this year. But a federal government shutdown could potentially delay or complicate that phase. “I think we can expect this to cause delays in the promulgation of OSHA regulations,” Brody said.

Constable, who testified at an OSHA hearing on the proposed heating rule in June, said it is unclear what the ultimate impact of the shutdown will be. For now, the online portal through which she and others can submit final comments to the agency remains active. Since the closure began last Wednesday, OSHA has not extended the comment period, which is currently Oct. 30.

But can long-term federal funding shortfalls make a difference? At the end of the day, an online portal is just a website that, “like everything else, requires maintenance,” Constible said. Without that, “the question is, will it continue to work?” She noted that it is possible to send comments to the agency by email. “If the deadline isn't extended and the website doesn't work, then we'll just start emailing. Or I'll go to the OSHA office.”

Grist's emailed request to OSHA for comment resulted in an automated message not tracking the government shutdown as a reason.

Even if the current proposal for heat standards continues to make its way through OSHA without the delays of the shutdown, Constable and Brody expressed concern that it could eventually be watered down — because of industry groups that say compliance with the standards is costly and burdensome, and because of President Donald Trump's deregulatory agenda.

Michaels, however, said that “if the Trump administration understands the importance of protecting workers, they will impose strict standards.”