The Trump administration has removed specific goals for increasing workplace inspections from a Department of Labor program aimed to keep workers safe from extreme heat.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Friday issued a revised National Emphasis Program for heat. The program was launched by the Biden administration in 2022 specifically to increase on-site inspections of industries where workers are at “high risk” for heat exposure. The 2022 document set a goal of each OSHA regional office increasing on-site inspections 100 percent over the baseline from 2017 to 2022.
The revised program, released Friday, eliminates that language and does not set alternative metrics.
Instead, the document describes a “continued need for heat-related outreach and compliance assistance activities, as well as on-site consultation visits and programmed enforcement to lower reported fatalities, hospitalizations and complaints or referrals to OSHA.”
OSHA did not immediately respond when asked why it had removed inspection metrics from the program.
The document does say that on-site inspections will be prioritized in cases where workers are sickened or killed by extreme heat, but it is unclear whether OSHA will continue to proactively inspect hot worksites under the program as it previously did.
Inspecting workplaces to ensure employers are allowing workers water and rest breaks before anyone falls ill was a key tenant of the program when it was launched in 2022.
Heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer in the U.S. and can be particularly dangerous for laborers because their exertion makes it more difficult for their bodies to stay cool.
Health experts had long criticized the agency for not having any specific regulations protecting workers from heat. Workers are instead protected broadly by OSHA’s so-called general duty clause, which requires employers to ensure workplaces are safe from “recognized hazards.” While OSHA had recommended that employers can comply with the general duty clause by providing workers with water rest and shade, enforcement had proven difficult without specific standards, and the agency largely only inspected worksites and cited employers after workers were sickened or killed by heat.
The National Emphasis Program significantly boosted the number of inspections beyond those for fatalities.
Before the program, OSHA conducted just 200 inspections annually, which included roughly 15 related to on-the-job fatalities, according to the agency. By contrast, OSHA conducted some 7,000 heat-related inspections between April 2022 and December 2024 under the emphasis program. Just 147 of those were related to on-the-job deaths. The inspections resulted in 60 heat citations for violations of the general duty clause and 1,392 Hazard Alert letters to employers outlining steps they could take to keep workers safe.
It is unclear how many heat-related inspections occurred during the first year of the Trump administration.
OSHA has not released such data, but Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has released information showing total OSHA inspections between April 2025 and September 2025 were 19 percent lower than they had been during the same period in 2024.
The new emphasis program appears to prioritize OSHA consulting with employers and advising them on how to comply with the agency’s heat guidance.
Doug Parker, who lead OSHA during the Biden administration, said prioritizing inspections rather than consultations is important because it empowers OSHA employees to speak directly to workers and do their own investigations.
“There’s nothing wrong with compliance assistance, but when you’re on an inspection if you observe a violation there are things you’re required to do,” he said.
The emphasis program was has served as a stopgap while OSHA drafts heat-specific regulations.
OSHA proposed a heat rule in July 2024 that would require employers to provide workers with water and cool places to rest with increasing frequency as combined heat and humidity rise above 80 degrees.
The Trump administration has not taken any action on the proposal since a two-week-long hearing last June. Then, industry representatives pushed OSHA to finalize a weaker version of the rule.
