Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act of 2022

Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act of 2022

This bill directs the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promulgate a standard that requires employers to implement certain measures for protecting workers from heat stress and related illnesses or injuries. Heat stress refers to the load of heat that a person experiences due to sources of heat or heat retention (including metabolic heat, environmental factors, and clothing or personal protective equipment) or the presence of heat in a work setting.

Further, if an employer cannot reduce exposure to heat stress below hazardous levels through engineering controls (e.g., heat shields and insulation) or personal protective equipment (e.g., heat reflective clothing), the employer must implement a program that mitigates such exposure through access to appropriate hydration and cool-down spaces, acclimatization policies, and periodic paid rest breaks.

Additionally, the bill establishes requirements concerning judicial review, implementation, enforcement, recordkeeping, and whistle-blower protections related to the standard.

The bill also requires the Department of Labor to include questions about heat-related illness and injury in the National Agricultural Workers Survey (an employment-based, random-sample survey of U.S. crop workers that collects demographic, employment, and health information).

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov