THE COHEN GROUP
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The Cohen Group Newsletter - Volume 7  Issue 3, Article 1.  October, 2005

Cal/OSHA’s New Heat Illness Standard
By Mark Golembiewski, CIH

On August 12, 2005, California became the first state in the U.S. to adopt a standard of any kind to protect workers from heat illness. In response to an unprecedented sequence of multiple deaths in agriculture and construction during a July heat wave, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board voted unanimously to establish an emergency regulation to deal with the problem. The standard, which only covers outdoor workers, went into effect on August 22 and is now found in Section 3395 of Title 8, General Industry Safety Orders.

The Heat Illness Prevention standard requires employers with outdoor workers to provide these employees with three essential, common-sense items:

· Access to adequate supplies of cool drinking water,
· A shaded rest area with ventilation or cooling for workers who are on the verge of becoming ill or who have already started to feel the effects of heat illness, and
· Employee training on the recognition and prevention of heat illness.

These requirements apply to all outdoor places of employment at those times when the environmental factors for heat illness are present, including high air temperature, high relative humidity, radiant heat load from the sun or other sources, conductive heat sources, poor air movement, workload, and protective clothing and equipment worn by employees.

According to §3395, affected employees must receive training on the following topics:

· The environmental and personal risk factors for heat illness;
· The employer’s procedures for identifying, evaluating and controlling exposures to those risk factors;
· The importance of frequent consumption of small quantities of water (up to 4 cups per hour) under extreme conditions of work and heat;
· The importance of acclimatization;
· The different types of heat illness and their common signs & symptoms;
· The importance of immediately reporting to the employer when symptoms or signs of heat illness are detected in themselves or co-workers;
· The employer’s procedures for responding to symptoms of possible heat illness, including providing medical services;
· Procedures for contacting medical services; and
· How to provide clear and precise directions to the work site

The emergency standard, under criticism from its inception for vague wording and a lack of specificity, is intended to remain in effect for 120 days (December 22, 2005). In the meantime, a Cal/OSHA Advisory Committee that had been formed previously to address the issue has been reconvened to craft a permanent standard. At a September 20 meeting, the Advisory Committee heard major proposals from the construction industry and a workers’ organization, as well as input from employer representatives. The Associated General Contractors of California Construction Coalition submitted a proposal to develop a separate heat illness standard for the construction industry. The Coalition believes that the unique challenges of construction, together with the industry standards already in place, warrant its own safety order for heat illness.

A proposal from WORKSAFE! (an organization connected to the San Francisco Labor Council) would produce a performance-based standard with some specific requirements and would apply to all workplaces at all times when the risk factors for heat illness are present. Their proposed regulation would retain the basic elements of providing drinking water, allowing for rest and recovery, and communicating to workers. but would allow employers to create their own program to define how they will identify the hazards and how they will prevent injuries and correct anything that’s unsafe. The proposal drew immediate criticism from employer representatives who note that it delved into areas that Cal/OSHA does not have the authority to regulate.

The contentious September 20 meeting concluded with a request for the committee members to submit their specific comments on the permanent standard in writing. The next meeting of the Advisory Committee has been tentatively scheduled for November 3. Stay tuned for further developments.