At the direction of the Biden administration, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued the nation’s first-ever heat hazard alert for worker and community safety today. While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continues to develop a national standard for workplace heat safety rules, the DOL and OSHA will use the heat hazard alert as a vehicle to:
- Ramp up inspections and enforcement of heat safety violations, especially in high-risk industries
- Provide information on what employers can and should do to prevent work-related heat illness
- Help ensure employees are aware of their right to work in safe and healthy environments
Meanwhile, the White House reported that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is investing up to $7 million to establish a new Data Assimilation Consortium to improve weather-prediction capabilities and maximize its global observing system, and the Department of the Interior is investing $152 million to expand water storage and enhance climate resilience in certain drought-impacted states.
Click here to see the OSHA Hazard Alert.