Heat Workforce Standards Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Heat Workforce Standards Act is a one-section prohibition on a specific OSHA rulemaking. It says the Secretary of Labor may not finalize, implement, or enforce the proposed standard titled “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings,” published by OSHA in the Federal Register on August 30, 2024 at 89 Fed. Reg. 70698, or any substantially similar standard. The bill therefore stops OSHA from converting that heat-injury proposal into an enforceable Federal workplace standard and blocks enforcement of similar requirements through this rulemaking path.
Who Benefits and How
Employers that would be covered by the OSHA heat standard benefit because they avoid new Federal compliance duties for indoor and outdoor heat exposure. Small businesses with hot work environments benefit by avoiding heat-plan, monitoring, rest, water, training, or recordkeeping obligations that could arise under a similar OSHA standard. Construction employers benefit because OSHA could not enforce the cited heat-injury standard on outdoor job sites. Agricultural employers benefit because OSHA could not enforce a substantially similar Federal heat standard for field work under this proposal.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Workers exposed to indoor heat hazards lose the benefit of a Federal OSHA standard specifically addressing heat injury and illness prevention. Workers exposed to outdoor heat hazards lose potential Federal requirements for employer controls, training, monitoring, and emergency response. OSHA rulemaking staff must halt finalization, implementation, and enforcement work on the cited standard or substantially similar standards. Worker safety advocates face a statutory barrier to the Federal heat standard they support.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits the Secretary of Labor from finalizing OSHA’s August 30, 2024 heat injury and illness prevention proposed standard.
- Prohibits OSHA implementation or enforcement of that proposed indoor and outdoor heat standard.
- Restricts any substantially similar OSHA heat injury and illness prevention standard.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Bars the Secretary of Labor from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing OSHA’s August 30, 2024 proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings standard or any substantially similar heat standard.
Key Policy Areas
Workplace Safety, OSHA, Labor Regulation
Primary Purpose
Bars the Secretary of Labor from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing OSHA’s August 30, 2024 proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings standard or any substantially similar heat standard.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Employers with hot work environments
- Small businesses with hot worksites
- Construction employers
- Agricultural employers
Identified Costs
- Workers exposed to indoor heat hazards
- Workers exposed to outdoor heat hazards
- OSHA rulemaking staff
- Worker safety advocates
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Messmer (for himself, Mr. Grothman, Ms. Hageman, Mr. Webster …
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Workers exposed to indoor heat hazards, Workers exposed to outdoor heat hazards
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology