Lawmakers Propose State-Specific Heat Illness Protection Rules

With the lack of federal rules to protect workers from heat, New Jersey lawmakers are proposing that the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration adopt and enforce its own heat injury and illness prevention rules. Assembly Bill 5022 and identical companion measure Senate Bill 3884 would order the commissioner of the Labor and Workforce Department to adopt rules establishing a heat stress standard. Until the commissioner adopts heat safety rules, the bills would define excessive heat to be a heat index above 85 degrees for most jobs and a lower threshold of 80 degrees when pe...