The House Education and Workforce Committee advanced H.R. 6213, the Heat Workforce Standards Act, by an 18-15 vote last week, a bill the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) backs to stop OSHA’s proposed national heat rule.
Rep. Mark Messmer (R-IN) introduced the bill, which would require congressional approval before OSHA could finalize, implement or enforce its proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings standard or any substantially similar rule.
NLBMDA said it strongly supports protecting employees from heat-related hazards, but it has repeatedly raised concerns about the substance of OSHA’s draft national standard.
The association argues the proposal would impose rigid, uniform requirements, such as temperature-based triggers, acclimatization mandates and heavy planning and recordkeeping duties, while leaving dealers too little flexibility to tailor heat-safety practices to their own operations.
Over recent months, NLBMDA helped bring the bill’s House cosponsors to 60. The group called committee approval an important step forward.
NLBMDA plans to keep engaging lawmakers to grow support and move the bill. It also continues to press OSHA to withdraw the current proposal and restart the rulemaking with meaningful input from the industries it would directly affect.