Heat safety

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Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division Oregon Administrative Rules AO 1-2025 Division 2 - (e) Develop and implement a written heat illness prevention rest break schedule that protects employees exposed to a heat index equal to or greater than 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Employers must choose and implement only one of the three options; choose either (A), (B), or (C) as described below. Note: The purpose of the heat illness prevention rest breaks is to allow the body to cool down and recover from working when the heat index equals or is greater than 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Note: Option (A) allows an employer to implement a self-designed schedule by building on a minimum rest break schedule using four specified elements. Option (B) allows an employer to implement a schedule by using an example heat illness prevention plan designed by NIOSH. Option (C) allows an employer to implement a schedule by using a simplified schedule designed by Oregon OSHA and based on a high-heat scenario in the NIOSH plan. - (A) Employer-designed heat illness prevention rest break schedule: Implement a written employer-specific, heat illness prevention rest break schedule using the minimum rest break durations and intervals in Table 1. Employers must protect employees from heat illness by integrating the elements in subsections (i) through (iv) into to their heat illness prevention rest break schedule, which may increase the duration or interval of the rest break beyond the minimum requirements to be protective. - (i) The effect of personal protective equipment (PPE) on the body's ability to retain heat; - (ii) The effect of the type of work clothing on the body's ability to retain heat; - (iii) Relative humidity, whether work activities are indoors or outdoors; and - (iv) The intensity of the work being performed. Note: Employers should consider the effect of exposure to direct sunlight when developing employer-specific heat illness prevention rest break schedule. Table 1 - Mini…

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Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division Oregon Administrative Rules AO 1-2025 Division 2 - (b) The employer's procedures for complying with the requirements of this standard, including, but not limited to, the employer's responsibility to provide water, heat index information (including the risks to experiencing a heat-related illness), shade, preventative rest breaks, and access to first aid, as well as how employees can exercise their rights under this standard without fear of retaliation; - (c) The importance of frequent consumption of small quantities of water, up to 32 ounces per hour, when the work environment is hot and employees are likely to be sweating more than usual in the performance of their duties; - (d) The concept, importance, and methods of the acclimatization plan pursuant to the employer's procedures under section (8); - (e) The different types of heat illness, the common signs and symptoms of heat illness, and the appropriate first aid and emergency response to the different types of heat illness, including how heat illness may progress quickly from mild signs and symptoms to a serious and life-threatening condition; - (f) The importance for employees to immediately report to the employer, directly or through the employee's supervisor, signs and symptoms of heat illness in themselves or in others; and - (g) The effects of nonoccupational factors (drugs, alcohol, obesity, etc.) on tolerance to occupational heat stress. - (10) Training documentation. Verify compliance with section (9) by preparing and maintaining written or electronic training records that can be provided to Oregon OSHA upon request. Such records must contain the name or identification of each employee trained, the date(s) of the training, and the name of the person who conducted the training. The most recent annual training record for each affected employee must be maintained. Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 654.025(2), 654.035 & 656.726(4) Statutes Implemented: O…

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J Division 2 AO 1-2025 Oregon Administrative Rules Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division - (C) Employees who work from home are subject only to the training requirements in sections (9) and (10). - (2) Definitions. - (a) Acclimatization - Temporary adaptation of the body to work in the heat that occurs gradually when a person is exposed to it. Acclimatization peaks in most people within seven to fourteen days of regular work for at least two hours per day in the heat. This time frame applies to fit individuals with no underlying medical conditions. - (b) Drinking water - Potable water that is suitable to drink and that is cool (66 °F -77 °F) or cold (35 °F -65 °F). - (c) Heat Illnesses - Medical conditions resulting from the body's inability to cope with a particular heat load, and includes heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heat syncope, and heat stroke. - (d) Shade - Blockage of direct sunlight is shade. One indicator that blockage is sufficient is when objects do not cast a shadow in the area of blocked sunlight. Shade is not sufficient when heat in the area of shade defeats the purpose of shade, which is to allow the body to cool. For example, a car sitting in the sun does not provide acceptable shade to a person inside it, unless the car is running with working air conditioning. Shade may be provided by any natural or artificial means that does not expose employees to unsafe or unhealthy conditions, and that does not deter or discourage access or use. - (e) Temperature-controlled environment -an indoor setting where the temperature is maintained with a mechanical cooling system. - (3) Access to shade. Establish and maintain one or more shade areas that are immediately and readily available to exposed employees that are outdoors when the heat index in the work area equals or exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The shade areas must meet the following criteria: - (a) The shade area must either be open to the outside air (at least three open sides) or provide m…

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Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division Oregon Administrative Rules AO 1-2025 Division 2 - (c) The shade must be located as close as practical to the areas where employees are working. - (d) Shade present during meal periods must be large enough to accommodate the number of employees on the meal period that remain onsite. - (e) If trees or other vegetation are used to provide shade, such as in orchards or forests, the thickness and shape of the shaded area must provide sufficient shadow to protect employees. - Exception: When the employer can demonstrate that providing access to shade is not safe or it interferes with the ability of employers and employees to complete the necessary work in a particular situation, for example, during high winds or when an employee is walking through range land, employers must identify and implement alternative cooling measures that provide equivalent protection such as providing cooling vests (either with fans or ice packs), water-dampened cotton clothing, or similar effective measures. The Heat Illness Prevention Plan under section (8) must include the use, care, and maintenance of the alternative cooling methods, in writing. - (4) Drinking water. Ensure that a sufficient supply of drinking water is immediately and readily available to exposed employees at all times, at no cost, when the heat index in the work area equals or exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit. - (a) Supplied drinking water must be either cool or cold, see subsection (2)(b). - (b) Supply each employee with enough drinking water to enable them to consume up to 32 ounces per hour. Employers are not required to supply the entire quantity of drinking water needed for all employees on a full shift at the beginning of the shift. Employers may begin the shift with smaller quantities of drinking water when effective procedures are established to replenish the water consumed during the shift. - (c) Employees must have ample opportunity to drink water required under this…

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Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division Oregon Administrative Rules AO 1-2025 Division 2 ## [redacted phone] Heat Illness Prevention - (1) Scope and application. This standard applies whenever an employee performs work activities, whether in indoor or outdoor environments, where the heat index (apparent temperature) equals or exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit. - Note: When another applicable standard addresses other hazards that may be present, employers must comply with the requirements of that standard and this standard. Where the requirements of one standard are more protective than another for the same hazard, employers must follow the requirements that provide the higher level of employee protection. - (a) The following workplaces and operations are exempt from the requirements of this standard. - (A) Incidental heat exposures where an employee is not required to perform work activities for more than 15 minutes in any sixty-minute period. - (B) Exposures to heat generated from the work process -such as occurs in bakeries -is not subject to this standard. In such cases, employers must follow the requirements of OAR [redacted phone](2). - (C) All emergency operations that are directly involved in the protection of life or property, or the restoration of essential services, such as evacuation, rescue, medical, structural firefighting, law enforcement, utilities, and communications, when employees are engaged in those operations. - (D) Buildings and structures that have a mechanical ventilation system that keeps the heat index below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. - (b) The following workplaces and operations are partially exempt from certain requirements of this standard. - (A) Employers whose employees perform either 'rest' or 'light' workloads, as defined in Table 1.1 of Appendix A: Mandatory Information for Heat Illness Prevention, are exempt from the requirements of sections (3) through (10) only when the heat index is less than 90 degrees Fahrenheit. - (B) Ass…

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Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division Oregon Administrative Rules AO 1-2025 Division 2 ## Appendix A to [redacted phone] - Mandatory Information for Heat Illness Prevention To protect the health and safety of employees from heat-related illnesses, employers should consider using the resources in this appendix. Please note that some resources may use temperatures in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. To convert to degrees Fahrenheit, use this formula: Fahrenheit (°F) = (Celsius x 1.8) + 32 - 1. Most heat-related illnesses affect workers who do strenuous physical activity. When workers engage in intense work, their bodies create heat. This "metabolic" heat combines with environmental heat (from temperature, sunlight, humidity, etc.) so workers' core temperature can rise to dangerous levels. To prevent a hazardous combination of environmental and metabolic heat, employers should be aware of workers' activity level. Workload can be classified as rest, light, moderate, heavy, or very heavy. - · Light: Sitting or standing with minimal arm and leg work. - · Moderate: Continuous modest intensity, such as light pushing/pulling or normal walking. - · Heavy: Intense upper body work such as carrying loads or sawing. - · Very heavy: Intense activity at an almost maximum pace.

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Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division Oregon Administrative Rules AO 1-2025 Division 2 Table 1.1 is copied from federal OSHA's guidance on Heat Hazard recognition, which can be accessed at: https://www.osha.gov/heat-exposure/hazards under the Metabolic Heat and Workload (Physical Activity Level) tab - 2. The OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool app is a useful resource for planning outdoor work activities based on how hot it feels throughout the day. It features realtime heat index and hourly forecasts specific to your location, as well as occupational safety and health recommendations from OSHA and NIOSH. It can be accessed and downloaded at: https://www.osha.gov/heat/heat-app - 3. NIOSH Work/rest schedules.