New Jersey lawmakers consider heat rules for employers

New Jersey lawmakers are considering a bill that would create an occupational heat-related illness and injury prevention program and occupational heat stress standard to be overseen by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

A.B. 5022, introduced Thursday, calls for the state before June 1, 2025, to establish guidance “that establishes heat stress levels for employees that, if exceeded, trigger actions by employers to protect employees from heat-related illness and injury” and requires employers “develop, implement, and maintain an effective heat-related illness and injury prevention plan for employees.”

The proposal calls for more than a dozen mandates including water breaks and rest periods for indoor and outdoor workers when heat is deemed excessive and “postponing tasks that are non-essential until the excessive heat condition subsides.”

The bill is a response to a lag in the federal government’s response to heat risks for workers, stating that “in the absence of a heat stress standard adopted by (the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration), New Jersey may through legislation and regulation adopt a heat stress standard for the protection of employees against heat-related illness and injury that applies to employers and employees in this State both in private and public employment.”

A public comments period for a federal standard ends on Dec. 30 and experts say it’s unlikely the outgoing administration will adopt mandates before President Joe Biden leaves office.

The bill, which would make New Jersey the fifth state to adopt heat rules for workers, was sent to the Assembly Labor Committee.