The Biden administration made history this summer when it proposed first-ever protections for people working in extreme heat. But it’s not the federal government that deserves credit, said Doug Parker, who led the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as it drafted the new rule.
“It was really the result of the continuous work by workers who are exposed to heat and their advocates, who have not given up on the need for a heat rule,” he said in an interview, noting that public health and safety experts have pushed for heat protections for more than 50 years.
“I think we can take credit for listening, but this has not been a top-down initiative,” he added.
Parker will leave his post at the end of this week, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday. What happens next to the landmark rule is unclear.
