I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4897 

To direct the Secretary of Labor to promulgate an occupational safety and 

health standard to protect workers from heat-related injuries and illnesses. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 26, 2023 

Ms. CHU (for herself, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. 

ROSS, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. 

GALLEGO, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. CLARKE of New York, 

Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. PALLONE, 

Mr. MOULTON, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. GARCIA of 

Texas, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. WASSERMAN

SCHULTZ, Mr. MFUME, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. 

TOKUDA, Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. PANETTA, 

Ms. MENG, Mr. POCAN, Ms. OMAR, Ms. TITUS, and Mr. CASAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Labor to promulgate an occupational safety and health standard to protect workers from 

heat-related injuries and illnesses. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Asuncio ́n Valdivia 

3 Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act of 

4 2023’’. 

5 SEC. 2. EMPLOYER DUTIES. 

6 Each employer shall— 

7 (1) furnish employment and a place of employ8 ment free from conditions that may reasonably be 

9 anticipated to cause death or serious physical harm 

10 from heat stress; and 

11 (2) comply with standards, regulations, rules, 

12 and orders promulgated under this Act. 

13 SEC. 3. WORKER HEAT PROTECTION STANDARDS. 

14 (a) DESIGN OF STANDARDS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall promul16 gate a worker heat protection standard that, in ac17 cordance with the best available evidence, establishes 

18 the maximum protective program of measures an 

19 employer shall implement to regulate employees’ ex20 posure to heat stress and prevent heat-related illness 

21 and injury that attains the highest degree of health 

22 and safety protection to the extent feasible. 

23 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.— 

24 (A) DEMONSTRABLY ACHIEVABLE MEAS25 URES.—The Secretary may presume that any 

26 requirement substantially equivalent to a reVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Aug 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4897.IH H4897

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1 quirement adopted by a State plan approved by 

2 the Occupational Safety and Health Adminis3 tration pursuant to section 18(c) of the Occupa4 tional Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 

5 U.S.C. 667(c)) and that has been in effect for 

6 at least 1 year is feasible. 

7 (B) PRIORITIZING WORKER PROTEC8 TION.—In weighing any considerations during 

9 rulemaking, the Secretary shall place pre10 eminent value on assuring employees a safe and 

11 healthful working environment. 

12 (C) AVAILABLE EXPERTISE.—If the Sec13 retary adopts any finding or recommendation 

14 by the Institute, the American Conference of 

15 Governmental Industrial Hygienists, or the Na16 tional Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and 

17 Medicine relevant to heat stress in a rule18 making pursuant to this Act, such finding or 

19 recommendation shall be considered the best 

20 available evidence. 

21 (D) EMPLOYER CATEGORIES.—The Sec22 retary may, in any rulemaking analysis or de23 sign of standards, cluster relevant employers in 

24 any categories such as standard industry or oc25 cupational classifications or any common or reVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Aug 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4897.IH H4897

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1 lated features of heat sources, conditions of em2 ployment, employer practices, employee charac3 teristics, or nature of place of employment that, 

4 in the Secretary’s reasonable determination, are 

5 useful for designing an effective and practicable 

6 program of standards, regulations, and enforce7 ment that maximizes the health and safety of 

8 employees. 

9 (3) PROTECTIVE PROGRAMS.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—In addition to measures 

11 specified by this Act, the Secretary may develop 

12 a worker heat protection standard with such 

13 additional requirements that, in the Secretary’s 

14 reasonable judgment, are necessary or appro15 priate to achieve the purposes of this Act. Such 

16 measures may include the following: 

17 (i) ENGINEERING CONTROLS.—Re18 quirements to eliminate hazardous levels of 

19 heat stress through engineering controls, 

20 such as isolation or shielding of employees 

21 from sources of heat, exhaust ventilation, 

22 insulation of hot surfaces, or climate-con23 trol technologies, as well as technology24 based standards that encourage the devel25 opment of such controls. 


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1 (ii) ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROLS.—Re2 quirements to limit exposure to hazardous 

3 levels of heat stress by adjustment of work 

4 procedures, work schedules, or other work 

5 practices. 

6 (iii) PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIP7 MENT.—Requirements to provide, at the 

8 employer’s expense, personal protective 

9 equipment such as water-cooled garments, 

10 air-cooled garments, heat-reflective cloth11 ing, and cooling vests. 

12 (iv) HEALTH-RELATED PROTOCOLS.— 

13 Requirements to conduct medical symptom 

14 monitoring, emergency response protocols, 

15 medical removal protection, or training of 

16 employees and supervisors in recognition of 

17 symptoms of heat-related illness and ap18 propriate responses. 

19 (v) TRAINING REQUIREMENTS.—Re20 quirements to train employees and super21 visors in topics reasonable or necessary to 

22 achieve the implementation of the require23 ments of a standard or the purposes of 

24 this Act, including— 


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1 (I) training of employees in signs 

2 and symptoms of heat-related illness, 

3 emergency response procedures, and 

4 their rights under this Act; and 

5 (II) training of supervisors in 

6 monitoring heat conditions and envi7 ronmental forecasts, recognizing signs 

8 of heat-related illness, and protocols 

9 for responding to likely heat-related 

10 illness. 

11 (vi) PLANNING REQUIREMENTS.—Re12 quirements for a heat illness and injury 

13 prevention plan that— 

14 (I) is of sufficient quality to ef15 fectuate the purposes of this Act and 

16 to effectuate the requirements of the 

17 standard that apply to the employer; 

18 (II) is developed, updated, and 

19 implemented with the meaningful par20 ticipation of the employer’s employees 

21 and, where applicable, such employ22 ees’ representatives, for all aspects of 

23 the plan; 


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1 (III) is produced and maintained 

2 in writing and updated in light of 

3 changing conditions or practices; and 

4 (IV) is made available, upon re5 quest, to any employee, the employee’s 

6 representative, and the Secretary. 

7 (vii) STANDARD HEALTH AND SAFETY

8 MEASURES.—Any measures described in 

9 section 6(B)(7) of the Occupational Safety 

10 and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 

11 655(B)(7)). 

12 (B) INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS.—As the rel13 evant scientific evidence develops, technological 

14 solutions improve, and environmental conditions 

15 or new work practices aggravate the risk of 

16 heat-related illness or injury, the Secretary may 

17 modify, supplement, or revise a worker heat 

18 protection standard by rule in order to improve 

19 such standard in light of such changes, even if 

20 it departs from long-standing past practice, 

21 provided that the resulting standard is con22 sistent with this Act. 

23 (C) CORE PRACTICES.—The Secretary 

24 shall establish criteria under which an employer 

25 who exposes or may reasonably be anticipated 


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1 to expose an employee to heat or heat stress 

2 that is not reduced below hazardous levels by 

3 engineering controls or personal protective 

4 equipment shall implement a reasonable pro5 gram that includes— 

6 (i) suitably cool potable water or ap7 propriate hydration, provided at employer 

8 expense; 

9 (ii) periodic paid rest breaks sched10 uled to reduce heat stress below hazardous 

11 levels; 

12 (iii) access to shade or suitable cool13 down spaces; 

14 (iv) acclimatization policies; and 

15 (v) such measures that are necessary 

16 or appropriate to ensure effective imple17 mentation of the requirements of this sub18 paragraph. 

19 (4) OTHER SPECIFICATIONS.— 

20 (A) PROTECTION OF PAY.—The Secretary 

21 shall require that, for any required duration 

22 such as rest breaks, medical removal protection, 

23 and training, an employee shall receive com24 pensation at the regular rate at which such em25 ployee is employed. 


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1 (B) LANGUAGE ACCESS.—Any required 

2 training, poster, label, hazard alert, or written 

3 plan shall be provided in English and a lan4 guage understood by the employees, if such is 

5 not English, and prepared appropriately for the 

6 vocabulary, educational level, and literacy of the 

7 employees. 

8 (C) TEMPORARY LABOR CAMPS.—The Sec9 retary shall revise the Secretary’s standard for 

10 temporary labor camps to the extent necessary 

11 to achieve the purposes of this Act. 

12 (5) MAINTAINING PROTECTION.—No worker 

13 heat protection standard promulgated under this Act 

14 may reduce the protection afforded employees by an 

15 existing worker heat protection standard. 

16 (b) INITIAL STANDARDS.—Not later than the date 

17 that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, 

18 the Secretary shall promulgate, without regard to the re19 quirements of chapters 5 and 6 of title 5, United States 

20 Code, subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States 

21 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

22 Act’’), or the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

23 (42 U.S.C. 431 et seq.), an interim final rule establishing 

24 a worker heat protection standard and related record25 keeping and reporting requirements. Such rule shall take 


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1 effect upon issuance (except that it may include a reason2 able delay in the effective date), shall have the legal effect 

3 of an occupational safety and health standard as defined 

4 by section 3(8) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 

5 of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 652(8)), and shall remain in effect 

6 until superseded by a final rule promulgated pursuant to 

7 this Act. 

8 (c) RULEMAKING PROCEDURES.—For any rule9 making pursuant to this Act after publication of the in10 terim final rule in subsection (b), the following procedures 

11 shall apply: 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, upon a 

13 showing by a petitioner pursuant to paragraph (2) 

14 or the Secretary’s own determination that a worker 

15 heat protection standard is necessary or appropriate 

16 to regulate employees’ exposure to conditions known 

17 to cause or that may reasonably be anticipated to 

18 cause heat-related illness or injury, promulgate any 

19 worker heat protection standard in accordance with 

20 the policies set forth in this section and in accord21 ance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code 

22 (without regard to any reference in such section to 

23 sections 556 and 557 of such title). 

24 (2) PETITIONS FOR RULEMAKING.—Any person 

25 may petition the Secretary to promulgate or modify 


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1 a worker heat protection standard. Within 18 

2 months after receipt of a petition, the Secretary 

3 shall either grant or deny the petition by publishing 

4 a written explanation of the reasons for the Sec5 retary’s decision. The Secretary may not deny a pe6 tition solely on the basis of inadequate resources or 

7 insufficient time for review. 

8 (3) TIMELINES.—Except as otherwise provided 

9 in subsection (b), the Secretary shall observe the fol10 lowing schedule for rulemaking: 

11 (A) PROPOSED STANDARDS.—Within one 

12 year after granting a petition for rulemaking 

13 under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall pub14 lish a proposed worker heat protection standard 

15 consistent with this section. 

16 (B) FINAL STANDARDS.—The Secretary 

17 shall promulgate, within one year after such 

18 publication, such standards with such modifica19 tions as the Secretary deems appropriate. 

20 (C) EFFECT.—Standards or revisions 

21 thereof shall become effective upon promulga22 tion, except that the Secretary may include a 

23 reasonable delay in the effective date. 

24 (4) TRANSPARENCY IN RULEMAKING.—For any 

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1 retary shall place in the public record not later than 

2 the date of such rulemaking notice the following: 

3 (A) The drafts of such rulemakings pre4 pared before publication and submitted by the 

5 Secretary to the Office of Management and 

6 Budget for any interagency review process prior 

7 to publication, all documents accompanying 

8 such drafts, all written comments thereon by 

9 other agencies, and all written responses to 

10 such written comments by the Secretary. 

11 (B) A summary of the substance of any 

12 changes between the text of the draft rule13 making that the agency provided to the Office 

14 of Management and Budget under section 

15 6(a)(3)(B)(i) of Executive Order 12,866 and 

16 the text published in the Federal Register, ex17 cluding any non-substantive changes such as 

18 spelling or grammatical corrections or re-order19 ing of text that has no legal effect. 

20 (C) A statement identifying any party or 

21 entity at whose request any such change was 

22 made. 

23 (5) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 

24 (A) FILING OF PETITION.—A petition for 

25 review in accordance with section 702 of title 5, 


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1 United States Code, of action of the Secretary 

2 in promulgating any worker heat protection 

3 standard or any other nationally applicable reg4 ulation or final action taken by the Secretary 

5 pursuant to this Act may be filed only in the 

6 United States Court of Appeals for the District 

7 of Columbia. The filing of a petition for review 

8 shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule 

9 or action. 

10 (B) TIMELY FILING.—Any petition for re11 view under this paragraph shall be filed within 

12 sixty days from the date notice of such promul13 gation, approval, or action appears in the Fed14 eral Register. 

15 (C) NOT SUBJECT TO REVIEW.—Action of 

16 the Secretary with respect to which review could 

17 have been obtained under this paragraph shall 

18 not be subject to judicial review in civil or 

19 criminal proceedings for enforcement. Failure 

20 to promulgate any standard pursuant to the 

21 schedule established by this section shall be 

22 subject to review. 

23 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided by 

25 this section— 


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1 (1) a worker heat protection standard shall 

2 have the same legal effect as an occupational safety 

3 and health standard as defined by section 3(8) of 

4 the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 

5 U.S.C. 652(8)); and 

6 (2) any rule, regulation, or order promulgated 

7 pursuant to this Act shall have the same legal effect 

8 as a rule, regulation, or order promulgated pursuant 

9 to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 

10 (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.). 

11 (b) ENFORCEMENT.— 

12 (1) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR CITATION.— 

13 No citation for any violation of section 2 or any 

14 standard, rule, regulation, or order pursuant to this 

15 Act may be issued under this section after the expi16 ration of four years following the occurrence of any 

17 violation. 

18 (2) REVIEW.—The Commission shall grant sub19 stantial deference to any reasonable interpretation 

20 by the Secretary of this Act or any standard, regula21 tion, or order pursuant to this Act. 

22 (c) RECORDKEEPING AND REPORTING.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—With regard to record24 keeping and reporting, the Secretary and Secretary 

25 of Health and Human Services shall have the same 


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1 authority to prescribe regulations related to this Act 

2 as under section 8 of the Occupational Safety and 

3 Health Act (29 U.S.C. 657). 

4 (2) CONSOLIDATING REQUIREMENTS.—The 

5 Secretary may incorporate recordkeeping and report6 ing requirements under this section into existing rec7 ordkeeping and reporting requirements promulgated 

8 pursuant to section 8 of the Occupational Safety and 

9 Health Act (29 U.S.C. 657), provided that a viola10 tion of such a requirement with regard to implemen11 tation of this Act shall be enforced as a distinct vio12 lation separate and apart from any other simulta13 neous violation of a requirement pursuant to the Oc14 cupational Safety and Health Act. 

15 (d) WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS.— 

16 (1) COMPLAINT.—Any employee who believes 

17 that such employee has been discharged or otherwise 

18 discriminated against by any person in violation of 

19 section 11(c)(1) of the Occupational Safety and 

20 Health Act (29 U.S.C. 660(c)(1)) with regard to any 

21 matter under or related to this Act may, within 180 

22 days after such violation occurs, file a complaint 

23 with the Secretary following the procedures in para24 graph (2) of such section alleging such discrimina25 tion. 


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1 (2) ACTION.—If the Secretary fails to notify 

2 the complainant of the Secretary’s determination on 

3 the complaint within 90 days pursuant to section 

4 11(c)(3) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 

5 (29 U.S.C. 660(c)(3)) or determines not to bring an 

6 action pursuant to paragraph (2) of such section, 

7 such employee may bring an action in any appro8 priate United States district court against such per9 son for all appropriate relief in accordance with 

10 paragraph (2) of such section as well as reasonable 

11 attorney’s fees and costs. 

12 SEC. 5. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

13 (a) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act is 

14 held invalid, the remainder of this Act shall not be affected 

15 thereby. If the application of any provision of this Act to 

16 any person or circumstance is held invalid, the application 

17 of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall 

18 not be affected thereby. 

19 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 are authorized to be appropriated from sums not otherwise 

21 appropriated, for each fiscal year, such sums as may be 

22 necessary to carry out this Act. 

23 SEC. 6. AGENDA FOR FURTHER REVIEW AND ACTION. 

24 The Secretary shall update the National Agricultural 

25 Workers Survey with such questions that, in the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Aug 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4897.IH H4897

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1 retary’s judgment, are useful to identify the incidence and 

2 prevalence of heat-related illness and injury and assess the 

3 impact of standards and enforcement pursuant to this Act. 

4 Within one year of the date of enactment of this Act, the 

5 Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Education and 

6 the Workforce of the House of Representatives and the 

7 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 

8 the Senate a report on the Secretary’s implementation of 

9 this section. 

10 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

11 For purposes of this Act: 

12 (1) The term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Occupa13 tional Safety and Health Review Commission. 

14 (2) The term ‘‘employee’’ has the same mean15 ing as in section 3(6) of the Occupational Safety and 

16 Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 652(6)). 

17 (3) The term ‘‘employer’’ has the same meaning 

18 as in section 3(5) of the Occupational Safety and 

19 Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 652(5)). 

20 (4) The term ‘‘heat stress’’ means the load of 

21 heat that a person experiences due to— 

22 (A) sources of heat or heat retention (in23 cluding the combined contributions of metabolic 

24 heat, environmental factors, and clothing or 

25 personal protective equipment); or 


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1 (B) the presence of heat in a work setting. 

2 (5) The term ‘‘heat-related illness’’ means a 

3 material impairment of health that occurs due to 

4 heat stress. 

5 (6) The term ‘‘heat-related injury’’ means an 

6 injury caused by exposure to heat or sources of heat 

7 or occurring as a result of heat stress. 

8 (7) The term ‘‘Institute’’ means the National 

9 Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. 

10 (8) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

11 of Labor. 

12 (9) The term ‘‘worker heat protection stand13 ard’’ means a standard that regulates employee ex14 posure to heat stress and prevents heat-related ill15 ness and injury by requiring conditions or the adop16 tion or use of one or more practices, means, meth17 ods, operations, or processes reasonably necessary or 

18 appropriate to provide employment and places of 

19 employment that are safe or healthful. 

Æ 


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