On July 9, the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) filed emergency rules to increase protection from heat exposure for outdoor workers. The new rules follow the “Heat Dome” heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest in late June and early July and may have contributed to the deaths of over 100 people in Washington alone. According to the Department of Health, heat-related hospitalizations in the Pacific Northwest were 69 times higher in late June 2021 than in the same period in 2019. The emergency rules, which aim to clarify “proactive steps that employers must take to prevent outdoor workers from suffering heat-related illness” went into effect on July 13 and expire September 30.

The emergency rules add additional protections to existing heat-related safety rules when temperatures hit certain thresholds. Under the new rules, when temperatures are at or above 100° F, employers must provide outdoor workers shade or other means of cooling down, and give workers paid cool-down rest breaks of at least 10 minutes every two hours.

When temperatures are at or above 89° F, the updated rules require employers to provide safe drinking water, to permit and encourage additional paid cool-down rest breaks, prepare an outdoor heat exposure safety program and train employees, and respond to employees showing signs of heat-related illness. Versions of some of these requirements, like drinking water, heat safety programs, and heat-related illness response, were previously required under the original seasonal heat exposure rules that have been in place since 2008.

L&I says that it expects to make permanent updates to its heat exposure rules over the coming months to account for increasingly common extreme heat events like this summer’s heat wave. However, they have not yet initiated a permanent rulemaking or announced any upcoming stakeholder comments. You can keep tabs on L&I’s rulemaking activity by checking their rulemaking page.