It’s that time of year and it’s starting to get hot out there. Lacking any noticeable progress on an enforceable heat standard, Trump’s OSHA is trying to look like it is doing something about the heat threat to workers by renewing a weaker version of the Biden administration’s Heat Emphasis Program.
In April 2022, the Biden administration issued a national Heat Emphasis program “to protect employees from heat-related hazards and resulting injuries and illnesses in outdoor and indoor workplaces.” OSHA emphasis programs are strategic enforcement and outreach initiatives that focus enforcement resources on specific high-risk hazards or industries.
That program expired last week, but just in the nick of time, the Trump administration issued a new, and not improved version.
No Goals
What’s the problem with the Trump version?
First, the 2022 heat emphasis program had actual goals (as do other OSHA emphasis programs.) The program stated that “Each Region is expected to have a fiscal year goal of increasing their heat inspections by 100% above the baseline of the average of fiscal years 2017 through 2021.”
And those goals had an impact.
Before the program, OSHA conducted just 200 inspections annually, which included roughly 15 related to on-the-job fatalities, according to the agency. By contrast, OSHA conducted some 7,000 heat-related inspections between April 2022 and December 2024 under the emphasis program. Just 147 of those were related to on-the-job deaths. The inspections resulted in 60 heat citations for violations of the general duty clause and 1,392 Hazard Alert letters to employers outlining steps they could take to keep workers safe.
The Trump version has no numerical goals. And they’re not shy about it, announcing the absence of numerical goals in their press release.
Why? We don’t know exactly. Possibly because inspections are “confrontational” and they don’t want OSHA to get into all that messy stuff.
Or it could also be that emphasis program inspections are pro-active “Programmed Inspections” and programmed inspections are a lower priority than “Unprogrammed Inspections” that result from workplace fatalities, imminent dangers, and worker complaints.
Maybe they fear that OSHA’s plans to reduce its inspectors and inspections will reach such a low point that inspectors just won’t have the time to conduct programmed inspections until after workers get sick or die. We saw in the President’s proposed FY 2026 budget that federal OSHA is proposing to conduct 8,243 fewer inspections than the agency conducted in FY 2025, and 12,642 (36%) fewer inspections than in FY 2024, the last full year of the Biden Administration.
But what workers will miss from OSHA enforcement inspections will be made up for by more OSHA outreach to employers. The new NEP added a new paragraph on “workplace assistance.”
Worksite Assistance: During an OSHA inspection, CSHOs may provide assistance to an employer while on-site and afterward prior to issuance of any citations. When this assistance is unrelated to evidence gathering or to feasible abatement for hazards being investigated, it is referred to as Worksite Assistance.
This is in line with the new plan laid out in OSHA’s recent budget proposal for OSHA inspectors (also known as Compliance Safety and Health Officers, or CSHOs) to spend less time enforcing the law and more time providing compliance assistance services to employers.
The 2022 NEP had a section directing inspectors to “Determine if the employer has a heat illness and injury program addressing heat exposure” that considered things like whether the employer had a written program, monitors ambient temperature and levels of work exertion, provided unlimited cool water that was easily accessible to the employees, required breaks for hydration, scheduled rest breaks in shaded areas, as well as time for acclimatization and training.
The new NEP weakens that section. Instead of asking whether the employer had a written program, the new NEP asks only if the employer has a “written or oral” heat program. Instead of “unlimited” cool water, there should be “sufficient amounts of cool water.” Also, no mention of a “buddy system.”
Missing Targets
Finally, both NEPs have a list of “Target Industries.” The new NEP removed 46 target industries from the list and added 22 industries. Now, these lists tend to fluctuate a bit when NEPs are renewed, but there are some curious omissions from the new list. For example, among those left off the new NEP Target Industry list are several industries where it seems that heat might be a major problem, such as Basic Chemical Manufacturing, Glass and Glass Product Manufacturing, Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing, Waste Treatment and Disposal, and my personal favorite: “National Security and International Affairs (includes Customs and Border Patrol, and Transportation Security Administration).”
Because neither pain, nor heat, nor civil liberties shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their nefarious rounds.
Plus it never gets hot on the southern border, right?
Good News From Virginia
But it’s not all bad news out there.
The Virginia legislature has passed, and Governor Abigail Spanberger has signed a bill directing the state’s Safety and Health Codes Board to create an OSHA standard for indoor and outdoor workplaces by May 1, 2028. California, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Nevada and Washington state already have workplace heat safety standards.
The Virginia bill directs the Board to
Consider the 2021 Draft Heat Illness Prevention Standard of the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry and standards created by the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, the American National Standards Institute, the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Division, the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division, and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Virginia state OSHA, by the way, is now headed by Jim Frederick, former OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Biden administration (and Assistant Director of the United Steelworkers union before that.)
Elections have consequences.