It may be hard to believe that spring is here, meaning summer is just around the corner. That annual eventuality generally is welcome news for school children, baseball enthusiasts, and swimmers—but less so for many employers these days. Increasingly, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)—the federal watchdog responsible for ensuring safe and healthful working conditions—has been “raising the heat” on employers when it comes to investigating heat hazards in the workplace during this era of volatile climate change.

OSHA does not currently have a permanent standard regarding heat hazards that applies to indoor or outdoor workplaces in the general industry and construction fields. While the agency is in the beginning of the multiyear rulemaking process to establish a permanent standard, this has not deterred officials from enforcing heat-hazard violations with the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s general duty clause. The general duty clause requires employers to furnish a workplace that is free from recognized hazards that may cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. And as global temperatures rise, employers now have new and real concerns and consequences to consider.

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