Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh highlighted the department’s efforts to protect workers from heat-related workplace hazards during a tour of a treatment facility operated by the Spanish Fort Water System, an Alabama water utility company.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be holding a public stakeholder meeting May 3, to discuss its ongoing activities to protect workers from heat-related hazards, according to an April 14 release.
“This enforcement program will immediately improve enforcement and compliance efforts when it comes to extreme heat, while continuing our long-term work toward a heat illness rule,” Walsh said, according to the release.
Spanish Fort company leaders described the types of heat-related hazards workers face in their operations, the release said. They explained how they take advantage of OSHA’s on-site consultation program and how to go about creating a heat illness prevention plan.
Topics at the stakeholder meeting will include the Heat Illness Prevention Campaign, compliance assistance activities and enforcement efforts, the release said.
“While it’s an employer’s responsibility to keep workers safe, it’s also critical that workers know the signs of heat illness and what to do in an emergency,” Walsh said, according to the release. “Through this work, we’re also empowering workers with knowledge of their rights, especially the right to speak up about their safety without fear of retaliation.”
