In May, the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OR-OSHA) adopted administrative rules to protect employees from excessive heat and smoke. The heat rules include requirements to provide access to shade and water. They also require employers to provide paid breaks of increasing length as heat intensifies.
Starting Wednesday, June 15, these new rules on Heat Illness Prevention will take effect. The rules will apply to outdoor workplaces and indoor workplaces without ventilation. To learn more about how these rules could affect your business and employees, see the summary of these rules below, along with additional resources.
- Summary: OR-OSHA Heat Illness Prevention and Wildfire Smoke Rules
- Fact sheet about the key requirements of the heat rule
- Fact sheet about the heat rule’s rest break schedule options for preventing heat illness
- Full Heat Rules
In addition, OR-OSHA rules regarding Wildfire Smoke will take effect July 1, 2022.
To get an overview of these newly adopted rules from Oregon OSHA officials, watch the webinar below (recorded June 8, 2022), courtesy of Oregon Business & Industry (OBI).
Visit the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce website for additional resources for these new rules.