Sheila Stanley is the OSHA area director for South Dakota.

On many days, all you need to do is to step outside to feel one of South Dakota’s deadliest hazards: extreme heat. So far in FY 2024, the dangers of heat illness have killed 34 workers nationwide both indoors and out. In FY 2023, 49 workers died. Here in South Dakota, we have conducted 66 heat-related inspections in FY 2023 and FY 2024. The Sioux Falls OSHA office received 13 heat-related complaints in FY 2023 and FY 2024.

In July, the U.S. Department of Labor took a much-needed step when its Occupational Safety and Health Administration addressed the dangers of workplace heat and announced publication of a proposed rule to reduce the significant health risks for workers exposed to hazardous heat in outdoor and indoor settings.

As heat sets new records across the nation, the risks people face on-the-job are also on the rise, especially in summer months. Each year, dozens of workers die needlessly and thousands more suffer illnesses related to hazards that, sadly, are most often preventable.

As OSHA moves through the required regulatory process to develop a new regulation that keeps workers safe from the dangers of heat, the agency will use its current authority to hold employers responsible when they fail to protect workers. It includes OSHA’s power to stop employers from exposing workers imminent workplace dangers.

Since 2022, the agency has conducted heat-related inspections under its National Emphasis Program — Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards. The program allows OSHA to proactively inspect workplaces where heat-related hazards are common to prevent workers’ needless injuries, illnesses or deaths. Since it began, the program has led to nearly 5,000 federal heat-related inspections.

OSHA is also making programmed inspections a priority in agricultural industries where temporary, nonimmigrant H-2A workers are employed seasonally. These workers are especially vulnerable, often with language barriers, less control over living and working conditions and lacking acclimatization. They face high risks when it comes to hazardous heat exposure.

Federal law requires employers to protect people from all workplace dangers, including heat exposure. Businesses must have a proper safety and health plan in place. When heat is a concern, employers must — at a minimum — provide adequate cool water, rest breaks and shade or a cool rest area. Employees new to, or returning to, a high-heat workplace should be given time to gradually get used to working in hot temperatures.

Workers and managers need training to identify and help prevent heat illness themselves.

Since President Nixon helped to create OSHA in 1970, America’s workers across all industries have benefitted from common sense government standards and the agency’s efforts to increase awareness of workplace safety practices.

As we celebrate Labor Day, let’s remember that heat affects outdoor and indoor workers and hope that next summer protections for workers will be even stronger with the adoption of the OSHA’s heat safety rules.