Hot Off the Press: What Employers Should Know About OSHA’s Updated National Emphasis Program for Heat Illness
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has revised its National Emphasis Program (NEP) for heat, removing a specific inspection-growth target that had been part of the initiative when the Program first launched back in 2022. In OSHA’s April 10, 2026 news release, it announced that the revised directive took effect immediately and will remain in place for five years. OSHA made a few changes to the Program, including removing outdated background information, updating Program links, and reorganizing appendices addressing heat program evaluation and citation guidance.
Most notably, OSHA eliminated the prior NEP’s numerical inspection goals—OSHA no longer commits itself to hitting a certain number of heat-related inspections. The original program, rolled out during the Biden administration, was designed to increase proactive heat inspections in industries OSHA flagged as having elevated heat risk (i.e., agriculture, road construction, roofing construction, other outdoor construction, landscaping, mail and package delivery, and oil and gas well operations). The now defunct 2022 directive required each OSHA regional office to increase on-site inspections by 100% over the 2017–2022 period. In contrast, the revised Program omits that language and does not replace it with a new metric.
Instead, the new Program refers to the broad “continued need for heat-related outreach and compliance assistance activities, as well as on-site consultation visits and programmed enforcement” to reduce fatalities, hospitalizations, and complaints. This move suggests OSHA is continuing to treat heat as an enforcement issue – but with less emphasis on prescriptive benchmarks – and an added focus on consultation.
Heat Remains in OSHA’s Enforcement Toolbox
The updated NEP does not necessarily signal that OSHA is stepping away from heat-related enforcement. OSHA says that compliance officers will continue to conduct inspections in high-risk industries on days when the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory or warning, and may expand ongoing inspections when they observe heat-related hazards. The new Program also will continue to prioritize on-site inspections where workers are sickened or killed by heat.
This leaves a central question for employers keeping tabs on OSHA’s heat enforcement: not whether heat remains on the agency’s agenda (it is), but how strongly OSHA will rely on unannounced inspections beyond post-incident enforcement.
Where in the World Is OSHA’s Final Heat Standard?
The significance of the revised NEP is heightened by the fact that OSHA still does not have a final federal heat standard. OSHA’s Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings rule was published in the Federal Register on August 30, 2024. As of today, the rule remains pending. The informal public hearing concluded on July 2, 2025, and the post-hearing comment period closed on October 30, 2025. Thus, the revised NEP appears to be operating as an important stopgap while OSHA continues to work through its path towards heat-specific rulemaking.
What Employers Should Do Now
OSHA could have allowed its heat NEP to lapse. It did not. This alone shows that OSHA will continue to emphasize the hazard of heat illness despite the change in Administration. Employers should take steps to evaluate both their heat illness prevention programs and procedures on how to handle OSHA inspections – regardless of whether the inspection is programmed or complaint/incident-based. Although OSHA’s heat enforcement and rulemaking are now moving on separate tracks, employers should still keep heat prevention programs current and be inspection-ready.
This post is as of the posting date stated above. Sidley Austin LLP assumes no duty to update this post or post about any subsequent developments having a bearing on this post.
