Protecting Workers from Extreme Heat;US Department of Labor has Proposed a Much-Needed Regulation;Can it Survive Trump? Commentary on the Essay “An Elusive Promise: Protecting US Workers from Excessive Heat”
Restricted accessArticle commentaryFirst published online February, 2026
Protecting Workers from Extreme Heat;US Department of Labor has Proposed a Much-Needed Regulation;Can it Survive Trump? Commentary on the Essay “An Elusive Promise: Protecting US Workers from Excessive Heat”
In the essay “An Elusive Promise: Protecting US Workers from Excessive Heat,” the author (who is also the author of this commentary) addresses the ever-increasing hazard that exposure to excessive heat poses to workers, both internationally and in the United States, and details the history of federal efforts to address the problem, dating back to the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (the “OSH Act”) in 1970. Following years of dogged advocacy by the worker safety community, those efforts culminated in August 2024 in the publication in the Federal Register of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings. A few months later, Donald Trump was elected president. This commentary examines whether the proposed rule can survive his presidency.
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