Transcript

Al
Welcome everybody to Radio Free Tenacity, the voice of worker safety. Here today with Lexi Hagler. She's our in-house heat stress expert here at Ergodyne. Lexi, thanks for joining us on the pod today.

Lexi
Thank you for having me.

Al
We wanted to bring you on because there has been some news about the updated heat stress NEP. I was wondering if maybe you could just start by explaining what the heat stress NEP is to begin with?

Lexi
Yeah. So NEP stands for National Emphasis Program. So those programs typically run for about three years. They're usually like a data collection exercise. So for heat stress, for example, OSHA is going out visiting job sites reviewing OSHA 300 logs. Are there incidents? Are they fatalities? And they're really focusing on high risk industries. So, you know, the normal ones we think of for heat.

Lexi
So construction, manufacturing, agriculture, that sort of thing where heat is a problem for all of these people on a daily basis. So the programs typically run for three years. This was launched in 2022. We're in 2026 now. So excitingly they just renewed it for five more years. So we've got till 2031. And it's exciting because there were some changes, there were some updates and it's seeming like it's a little bit more clear cut for people.

Lexi
This new updated emphasis program.

Al
Okay. All right. Well yeah that's that's really my next question is what are the updates?

Lexi
Yeah. So very interestingly there were a ton of industries that were added. There were some that were removed. And then there were some that maintained. So, you know, just something for people to keep in mind, if maybe your industry wasn't previously part of the emphasis program. Your industry may be now more focused in on. So just making sure that everybody has a plan in place.

Lexi
So the industry thing was definitely a big update. But really the biggest things I've noticed in the NEP is that it's shifting from data collection to more enforcement. So clear guidelines for OSHA inspectors and the people conducting that sort of thing. What to look for, a checklist, if you will, of are the employers, you know, trying to make sure that they have hydration breaks, schedules for people to take breaks, all that sort of thing.

Lexi
So a lot of the same kind of formula of what OSHA has been prescribing, but really just kind of giving a little bit of a clearer lens for the people to make sure that the safety plans are actually in place for heat stress.

Al
Okay. All right. So then as a safety manager, how do I take these updates and make them like the most valuable to me, the most useful to me? And you know, the crews that I oversee.

Lexi
Certainly, every industry and every job and every location is going to have different challenges, right? So I think it's really about taking into account, you know, what is your environment? Conducting a heat hazard. So we can do an analysis of okay, this station constantly people have to rotate through quicker or we have to schedule during the cooler parts of the day, that sort of thing.

Lexi
So I think that, you know, as much as we want like a one size fits all solution. This is still very personal to each job site in each industry. So, you know, if you can't, if you can't realistically have a shelter or a tent put up for people to take a break, what is realistic then for people getting out of the direct sun?

Lexi
So just mainly tailoring things to your actual facilities, your environment, what is feasible for you to do. So I think that's just something really important that safety managers, as they're reviewing this new NEP, just something to keep in mind. But the bones of it really did not change.

Al
Okay. All right. Well then as you're talking, it is absolutely true that, you know, heat stress mitigation is different for every worksite, every person. It seems like within the updated NEP, they are prescribing though some basic things like you mentioned, a checklist. A lot has been made of appendix I and appendix J. I did my homework before this.

Al
And, you know, that's essentially setting up compliance officers, right, with a checklist of basic things to look out for. Is it safe to say then, that any safety manager employer could also kind of use that in the reverse to make sure that they don't have any gaps?

Lexi
Definitely. They paint a really clear picture. So a lot of the messaging we've heard before are your employees trained. That's first and foremost. So you know what is heat stress look like in me? What does it look like in you? It's a very personal risk. So medication, lifestyle, level of exercise, all of this is very personal. And I'm not always talking to my boss about what meds I'm on or what my lifestyle is.

Lexi
So the training portion is really hitting home with all the personal factors that really can affect heat stress, because that is ultimately not something you're talking about at work all the time. So making sure people are trained. Acclimatization, we always want to keep encouraging acclimatization. So getting your body used to the environment you're working in. I went out to a job site in May in Idaho, and about 25% of the workforce was from Idaho, 75% was from somewhere else.

Lexi
So just really highlights the importance of making sure your body is ready for that environment. So people, so many people in the construction and manufacturing industries kind of shift wherever the job is. So that's just a really huge part of the NEP that again, they've been putting that in there since the beginning. OSHA has been recommending that since the beginning.

Lexi
So no, no surprises that that made its way in. Of course, water, rest and shade making sure we're monitoring weather conditions. So, you know, the hottest times of the day. Are we trying to schedule during maybe some indoor tasks during that hot time of the day? If it's outdoor work, are we doing an assessment of our job site and saying,  okay, this machine is really, really hot, so let's only try to operate this during a certain part of the day .

Lexi
That's not always feasible, right? So maybe it's just rotating through workers faster. It's really just encouraging employers to look holistically at the tasks that have to be done and how they can be done the most safe way basically.

Al
Sure. Yeah. No, that that makes complete sense. And as we kind of wrap up the conversation, there were a few other things that we're kind of buzzing around when people are talking about the updated NEP. One is kind of the optics of your heat stress mitigation, and the other is documentation. So with that last one is documentation, does that become any more or less important with the updated NEP as it relates to a safety manager's like good faith effort to keep their crew safe?

Lexi
Yes. The overarching message if something is not documented, it does not exist to OSHA. So you may have a heat stress plan, but if it's not written, that does not mean anything in OSHA s eyes. So they really do stress the importance of just having a plan written down, because some people are probably already doing a number of these things.

Lexi
They're getting rest breaks, they have water available to them. Maybe there's a trailer, they can go take a break in. Most people are probably doing a lot of these things already. It's truly just transferring it down on paper and saying,  yep, here's the steps that we're taking. We're already taking these steps. Here's where we want to go . So again, OSHA is trying to make sure, are you trying to protect your workers.

Al
Yeah. Yeah. And I guess that goes hand in hand then with the optics of it. Where is this true that at this point in time, a compliance officer could just be actually on his way or her way to another worksite? And if they pass your worksite and it looks like people are toiling away without any shade, without like any cool water close by, they can just kind of pull up to your worksite and ask, what's up?

Lexi
Yes they can. So if the weather is over the 80 degree threshold that they have set for inspection days. Yeah, we've heard many stories of, you know, inspectors heading to one job site. They see some farmers or they see road crew working on the side, and things just aren't seeming right. They have the authority to go out and just do a check.

Lexi
So they're definitely very, very serious. We got a lot of uptick in heat related inspections since the NEP was put in place, which we expected. But, you know, we were seeing maybe 700 inspections of heat over a couple of year period, whereas now we saw over 7,000.

Al
Oh, wow! So it's real.

Lexi
It is real. And again, it's like to some people this is like,  well yeah, we're doing all this stuff . We just got to have it on paper. And that's, just the facts, ma'am.

Al
Got it, got it. All right. Well, anything else that we missed in this conversation when it comes to the NEP, anything that you want to share with safety managers that we missed.

Lexi
So this will run through 2031. Ultimately, what these naps are in place for is, again, data collection. So OSHA proposed a federal rule in 2024. The interesting thing about this renewal and extension for me, creating a heat stress standard is pretty hard. Very, very hard. So there was a lot of discussion on OSHA's first pass at a proposed standard.

Lexi
So I think this five year extension is really giving them more time to collect more evidence. Because initially the proposal was pretty programmatic and that doesn't apply to everyone. So sometimes we need more performance based things and based on your region and based on your environment. So I think a lot more will be learned in the next five years.

Lexi
And whether a federal rule comes from that or not. We still know this is one of the most preventable incidents in fatalities.

Al
So absolutely, that has not changed.

Lexi
Nope.

Al
All right. Well, thank you so much, Lexi, for coming here and shedding some light on the updated NEP. And for those of you watching or listening, thank you so much for joining. If you want to learn more about the updated Heat Stress NEP, you could go to Ergodyne.com and search NEP. That's all we've got for this episode. Thank you very much for joining us.

Al
Stay safe out there people.