American Horse Council Request: Worker Safety Regulation & Member Survey
The American Horse Council has asked for our participation in their survey. Your feedback will be most appreciated in helping AHC formulate its proposed comments on this matter.
From the American Horse Council October 2023 Newsletter...
The Biden Administration is moving toward establishing national standards for workers to prevent heat injuries and illnesses. This standard would likely address agriculture and small business sectors for both indoor and outdoor work situations. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, exposure to excessive environmental heat stress has killed 907 U.S. workers from 1992 to 2019, with an average of 32 fatalities per year.
An Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard specific to heat-related injury and illness prevention would set forth employer obligations and the measures necessary to more effectively protect employees from hazardous heat. These may include mandatory rest periods, health surveillance and monitoring, cessation of work, reporting, and record-keeping.
AHC will submit comments on this proposal emphasizing the particular circumstances of small equine businesses engaged with agricultural-related work. We ask for your assistance in formulating AHC’s response by completing a short survey which is linked below. We will use the information (without attribution) to evaluate current practices employed to protect employee health and to craft our response to the OSHA regulation.
Survey
The survey is short and provides an opportunity for members to inform on current practices to mitigate the effects of hazardous heat on their employees, explain how, and to what extent, your business would be affected by a potential OSHA standard to protect workers from hazardous heat, highlight any special circumstances that make preventing heat-related injuries and illnesses in outdoor and indoor work settings more difficult or more costly for small entities than for large entities.
Survey responses are due December 1, 2023.
To discuss this proposed regulation or for more information, please contact info@horsecouncil.org
Take the Survey HERE.
Background:
There is no federal standard for worker protections for heat-related injuries except as addressed in the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which states employers have a duty to provide a work environment “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.” In addition, OSHA’s sanitation standards require employers to make potable water accessible to workers in sufficient amounts. Three states have specific plans for high heat exposure and several other states are in the process of adopting standards.
- California heat standard.
- Minnesota standard addresses indoor temperature.
- Washington state regulation on outdoor heat exposure.