EXTREME COLD IS PUSHING STATE lawmakers to increasingly consider legislation to require employers to protect workers from dangerously low temperatures.
- Most state workplace safety plans, as well as the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, currently rely on a type of catch-all provision to enforce safe working conditions when temperatures are either hot or cold enough to hurt people.
- But 18 state lawmakers proposed legislation on workplace temperature protections this year, more than double the proposals in 2024, said Sandy Dornsife, a policy analyst for government relations firm MultiState. The subject will continue to be a priority for lawmakers in 2026, she ...