7.30.24 – The Frederick News-Post
The Maryland Department of Labor has formally proposed its heat stress standard rule by publishing it in the Maryland Register. All changes in Maryland regulations are published biweekly in the Maryland Register. The Department of Labor’s proposed regulation was published in the July 26 issue.
In 2020, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation to adopt heat safety labor standards. The proposed regulations establish rules for employers who have employees that work in conditions with a heat index of 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, both indoor and outdoor.
Employers who fit this criteria would be required to provide employees with shaded areas or cooling measures, as well as drinking water and annual heat stress training.
The rule also mandates employers to create a heat illness prevention and management plan that explains how the requirements will be satisfied.
Workers must also be gradually introduced, or acclimatized, to working long hours in the heat instead, according to the proposed rule.
Emergency operations and essential services are the exception to the rule, as well as places of employment that do not expose workers to the heat for more than 15 minutes an hour, according to the Maryland Register.
The regulation’s full text can be found at the Maryland Register’s website at https://dsd.maryland.gov/Pages/MDRegister.aspx. To view proposed regulation recent issue, click on the June 26 issue.
Public comment will be accepted for the proposed regulations until Aug. 26. The Department of Labor will hold a virtual public hearing for comment on Aug. 16 at 1 p.m. The link to the meeting will be on the department’s website.
After public comment, the Department of Labor will review if the regulation needs to be changed.
More information
More information
Public comment can be submitted to dli.regulations+heat@maryland.gov.
Comment can also be sent to Tiffany Jones, the outreach coordinator in the Maryland Department of Labor’s Division of Labor and Industry at 10946 Golden West Drive, Hunt Valley, MD 21031 or by calling 410-767-2182.
A virtual public hearing will be held on Aug. 16 at 1 p.m. The link will be posted on the Department of Labor’s website at labor.maryland.gov.