OSHA Heat Source Newsletter & Heat Illness Prevention Campaign
We wanted to make you aware that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published the first issue of The Heat Source, the newsletter of the Heat Illness Prevention Campaign. Please see below. To subscribe to the OSHA heat source newsletter, please visit OSHA’s Heat Illness Prevention Campaign webpage, or click here.
Employers should be concerned about heat illness because it can have serious consequences for their workers and their business. Heat illness can lead to a range of health problems such as heat exhaustion, heat stroke, dehydration, and even death. These conditions can cause significant harm to workers, and can result in lost productivity, increased healthcare costs, and potential legal liabilities for employers.
In addition to the direct health impacts on workers, heat illness can also have indirect impacts on a business. When workers are suffering from heat illness, they make more mistakes, and are at greater risk of injuries. This can lead to decreased efficiency, increased costs, and lost revenue for the business. Furthermore, employers who fail to protect their workers from heat illness may face penalties, lawsuits, and damage to their reputation.
OSHA’s Civil Penalty Amounts
The U.S. Department of Labor announced changes to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) civil penalty amounts based on cost-of-living adjustments for 2023.
In 2015, Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act to advance the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. Under the Act, agencies are required to publish “catch-up” rules that adjust the level of civil monetary penalties and make subsequent annual adjustments for inflation no later than January 15 of each year. This year, January 15 falls on a Sunday and January 16 is a federal holiday. Therefore, new OSHA penalty amounts will become effective Jan. 17, 2023.
OSHA’s maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations will increase from $14,502 per violation to $15,625 per violation. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will increase from $145,027 per violation to $156,259 per violation.
Visit the OSHA Penalties page and read the final rule and press release for more information.
Please visit our Resources page for addition useful safety tools and information for employers.