On Dec. 2, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration extended the period for submitting comments on its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings by 30 days, to Jan. 26, 2022. This will begin the process to consider a heat-specific workplace rule, which will affect contractors who work in extreme heat. The ANPRM was originally published in the Federal Register on Oct. 27.

The 30-day comment period extension comes after ABC wrote to the DOL, requesting a 60-day extension for the public to submit feedback on its rulemaking. ABC stated that issues surrounding heat injury and illness prevention are complex, thus, the original 60-day comment period was not enough time to gather substantive feedback. ABC also requested comment period extensions as a member of the Construction Industry Safety Coalition and Coalition for Workplace Safety.

ABC plans to submit comments on behalf of its contractor members and will continue to provide updates on this rulemaking in Newsline.