{"id":14142,"date":"2026-07-20T11:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=14142"},"modified":"2026-07-20T11:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:05:21","slug":"house-republicans-attempt-to-osha-heat-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/07\/20\/house-republicans-attempt-to-osha-heat-standard\/","title":{"rendered":"House Republicans Attempt to Kill OSHA Heat Standard"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span>s we once again melt into the hottest summer ever recorded (but probably the coolest summer we will ever experience for the rest of our lives), it’s high time to take action to protect the workers who are risking their health and their lives to put food on the table and make this country livable.<\/p>\n

And “action” — to ensure working people have no protection from heat<\/em> <\/strong>—\u00a0 is just what Republican members of the House Education and Workforce Committee, nestled in their nice air-conditioned hearing room, are going to take on tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n

At 10:15am EST, tomorrow, the House Education and Workforce Committee will boldly tackle the workplace heat issue by marking up<\/a> — and likely passing, with only Republican votes — H.R. 6213<\/a>, a bill to stop OSHA from issuing a workplace heat standard. Or at least a standard that that protects workers. (A markup is where the committee of jurisdiction amends and votes on a bill before bringing it to the floor of the House for a final vote.) You can watch it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

H.R. 6213 is short:<\/p>\n

SECTION 1.<\/span>\u00a0Short title<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

This Act may be cited as the \u201cHeat Workforce Standards Act of 2025\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

SEC. 2. <\/span>Prohibition against finalizing, implementing, or enforcing a proposed standard with respect to heat injury and illness prevention<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The Secretary of Labor may not finalize, implement, or enforce the proposed standard titled \u201cHeat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings\u201d published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the Federal Register on August 30, 2024 (89 Fed. Reg. 70698), or any substantially similar standard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“Substantially similar” is not defined in the bill so it’s not clear what a future worker-friendly administration would be able to issue if this bill passed.)<\/p>\n

The bill has 59 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, all Republicans. Over half are from the South (where it gets really hot).\u00a0 The bill was introduced on November 20, 2025 when the high temperature in Washington DC was a cool 48\u00b0F.<\/p>\n

The “Heat Workforce Standards Act of 2025” was introduced<\/a> on November 20, 2025 by Indiana Rep Mark Messmer. It is intended to “repeal the sweeping and unworkable Biden Administration heat standards that had threatened to impel unnecessary mandates and excessive federal penalties upon American businesses and institutions.” (How you can repeal<\/em> an OSHA standard that hasn’t been issued yet is a question for another day. Also, “impel” unnecessary mandates? Did his P.R. staff miss that day in high school when they taught grammar and vocabulary? But I digress..)<\/p>\n

The main purpose of the bill is, as always, to save this nation’s poor small businesses who are suffering under the yoke of of over-regulation. According to Messmer, \u201cAs a small business owner myself, I\u2019ve seen how unwarranted, heavy-handed regulations can crush innovation, increase costs, and undermine the productivity of American institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans have been claiming that OSHA standards will kill small businesses for the past 55 years. It’s amazing that any small businesses still exist in this country, what with OSHA taking every opportunity to crush innovation, increase costs and undermine productivity.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Ironically, Messmer is co-owner of the family air conditioning<\/em> business<\/a>, so he knows heat and what to do about it.)<\/p>\n

Same Old, Same Old<\/h2>\n

Republicans have been claiming that OSHA standards will kill small businesses for the past 55 years. It’s amazing that any small businesses still exist in this country, what with OSHA taking every opportunity to crush innovation, increase costs and undermine productivity.<\/p>\n

And maybe you naively believed that the Biden administration was sincerely interested in protecting workers from excessive heat. But you would be wrong.<\/p>\n

Actually, according to Messmer,\u00a0 \u201cthe Biden Heat Rule was never about safety, but was rather, unsurprisingly, focused upon expanding federal bureaucratic control over hard working Americans.” Color me surprised.<\/p>\n

But never fear, Messmer assures us, “My Heat Workforce Standards Act empowers employers to maintain safe and realistic workplace standard parameters which allow for both their workers and the business to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Actually, we need to empower workers. Employers are already empowered to maintain safe workplaces. Unfortunately, too many are using that power to endanger workers, not protect them.)<\/p>\n

Messmer, and Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg, from the cool state of Michigan, and others continuously trot out the same old tired “one-size-fits-all” trope. (In fact, the phrase one-size-fits-all is repeated no less than five times in the Press Release.)<\/p>\n

According to Messmer, “In practice, the rule would have forced nearly every American business and institution to follow rigid, one-size-fits-all, federal workplace standards based on predetermined temperature thresholds, regardless of industry, climate, or existing safety protocols.”<\/p>\n

Walberg adds on:<\/p>\n

Americans deserve safe workplaces\u2014yet the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s heavy-handed approach to heat safety will hurt workers instead of helping them. Needless to say, California, Florida, and Michigan are miles apart when it comes to heat, and heat hazards in construction are very different from the hazards in manufacturing or agriculture. That is why any standard intended to prevent and reduce heat-related injuries must be flexible and keep workers safe in ways that best address their unique environments and challenges.<\/p>\n

As I’ve explained before<\/a>, Republicans and the business community have been using the same sad old accusation against every OSHA standard since the agency was created in 1971.\u00a0 But, as I’ve also explained before<\/a>, it’s just wrong — especially for heat.<\/p>\n

The “one-size-fits-all” argument infused OSHA’s hearing\u00a0 on the Biden heat standard last year. Industry reps argued that workers in the hot south are some already acclimated to heat and their employers know how to handle it, so they don’t need no stinkin’ government mandates.<\/p>\n

Most heat-related illnesses and death occur in the hottest states.\u00a0 And no, immigrant workers from hot countries are not some kind of heat-resistant supermen (or women). In fact, Hispanic workers have the highest level of exposure<\/a> to workplace heat hazards and death.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yet most heat-related illnesses and death occur in the hottest states.\u00a0 And no, immigrant workers from hot countries are not some kind of heat-resistant supermen (or women). In fact, Hispanic\u00a0workers have the\u00a0highest level of exposure<\/a> to workplace heat hazards and death. Twenty-three of 55 reported heat-related deaths in the United States in 2023 were Hispanic or Latino workers.\u00a0 Compared to U.S. citizens, immigrants have more than three times the risk of dying from heat-related illness \u2013 with the majority of deaths occurring in just three states, according to a\u00a0recent study<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It may be true that “California, Florida, and Michigan have different climates,” <\/i>but As far as the human body is concerned, ninety degrees in Miami, Florida is exactly the same as 90 degrees in Detroit, Michigan. Earlier this month<\/a>, temperatures in Detroit reached a high of 97 and the heat index (what it feels like) hit 105 degrees.<\/p>\n

Messmer doesn’t understand how OSHA works, nor how the standard would work. He claims for example that “State governments already have the authority to establish their own occupational safety and health standards and are required to have their plans be \u201cat least as effective\u201d as Federal OSHA standards.”<\/p>\n

Actually, only states with OSHA state plans have programs that are required to be “at least as effective” as Federal OSHA standards. And it’s not hard to be “at least as effective” as an absent federal standard. And any state, even non-federal states, can pass laws to protect workers from heat (at least until there’s a federal standard that would pre-empt standards in non–state plan states. But those states without OSHA programs have little staff or infrastructure to enforce workplace standards.<\/p>\n

Republicans forget that OSHA standards benefit not just workers, but also businesses who want to do the right thing and invest in protecting their employees.\u00a0 OSHA standards prevent high-road employers from having to compete with low-road employers who cut costs by cutting corners on health and safety. Everyone must operate on the same playing field.<\/p>\n

Messmer also claims that<\/p>\n

If it had been implemented, the Biden\u2019s Heat Rule would:<\/p>\n