LAS VEGAS — For the first time, businesses in Nevada will have to comply with heat-based hazard regulations in the workplace.

The announcement came from the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Wednesday, following the hottest summer on record in Las Vegas.

This is big news for any organization with more than 10 employees where most employees are exposed to heat illness. These businesses will now have to do a job hazard analysis specifically on heat and adopt a written plan to mitigate worker exposure.

The new regulations are not temperature-threshold specific.

“Because every job is different, whether you’re in a kitchen, whether you’re outside as a landscaper or construction worker or a warehouse, every situation is different where there was no uniform temperature threshold that worked for all types of environments,” Victoria Carreon, Division of Industrial Relations Administrator, said.

Other states that have heat-based workplace regulations include California, Washington and Oregon making Nevada the next in the West to adopt such workplace rules. However, this new regulation did not come from the state lawmakers or from the federal level.

“In this case, this was not required by the legislature, this was something that Nevada OSHA decided was really important for Nevada given our hot, desert climate and the hazard of heat illness,” Carreon said.

Guidance for how this regulation will be rolled out and implemented is expected in the next 30 days. After that, an outreach and engagement initiative will take place over the course of three months to help businesses understand what they need to do to comply with this newest regulation.

Enforcement will begin after that, just in time for next summer.

“Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the employers to determine what the hazards are and implement measures that will protect their employees from heat illness,” Carreon said.

2024’s Extreme Heat

This year, OSHA received 467 heat-related complaints for workplace hazards, which may not be surprising given the record-breaking nature of this season’s hot weather. We experienced 112 days over 100°, with 36 of those days over 110°.

The level of heat-related mortality also rose this year, Clark County has counted over 400 deaths so far this year where hot temperatures played a significant role.

Clark Co. reports 402 heat deaths so far this year

Regulation Outline

The approved regulation (R131-24AP [leg.state.nv.us]) requires businesses with more than 10 employees to implement the following measures:

• Job Hazard Analysis: Businesses with more than 10 employees must perform a one-time job hazard analysis of working conditions that could cause heat illness.
  • This analysis is limited to job classifications where a majority of employees have occupational exposure to heat illness for more than 30 minutes of any 60-minute period, excluding breaks.
• Written Safety Program: If the job hazard analysis identifies conditions that may cause heat illness, a written plan is required that includes the following:
  • Provision of potable water;
  • Provision of a rest break when an employee exhibits signs or symptoms of heat illness;
  • Provision for means of cooling for employees;
  • Monitoring by a person designated by the employer of working conditions that could create occupational exposure to heat illness;
  • Identification and mitigation of work processes that may generate additional heat or humidity;
  • Training of employees; and
  • Procedures for responding to an emergency.
• Emergency Procedures: Employers are required to designate an individual who will contact emergency services if an employee is experiencing signs of heat illness.
• Training: Employers are required to provide training to employees identified in the job hazard analysis on the following topics:
  • How to recognize the hazards of heat illness
  • Procedures to be followed to minimize the hazards of heat illness.
• Exemption for Climate-Controlled Environments:
  • The regulation’s requirements do not apply to employees who work indoors in climate-controlled environments, including motor vehicles with a properly functioning climate control system.
  • If the climate control system becomes nonfunctional or ineffective, the employer shall make a good-faith effort to reestablish an effective system as soon as practicable.
  • Until the climate control system is rendered effective, the employer must implement the potential hazards that could cause heat illness.
• Collective Bargaining Agreements:
  • Employers can exceed the requirements of the regulation on their own or through collective bargaining agreements.
  • Collective bargaining agreements cannot waive or reduce the requirements of the regulation; and
  • The regulation does not relieve an employer of contractual obligations under a collective bargaining agreement.

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – NV Energy issued a PSOM in Northern Nevada, in effort to prevent wildfires. “I looked out the windows and the entire neighborhood was dark,” said Mary Doyle, a resident who lost power in West Reno.

15,000 NV energy customers in Northern Nevada, waking up to no power. “The house is cold. That’s the worst part,” added Katie Cole. “The house is cold. It’s warmer out here than it is inside my house.”

The planned outage is hitting business owners hard. “It’s a big hit because customers are affected, employees are affected. We are affected,” said Mimi Butler, who is the owner of Bueno Grill, which has been a staple in the local community for 25 years. “That’s a whole days worth of business. We are open everyday and its a big potential to lose a chunk of sales for the month. It also is worrisome because our employees aren’t coming into work. For them they don’t get their paycheck for today. For our customers, we cant serve our customers.”

Many of the business owners in the Mayberry Landing Complex are adapting to the “no bueno” message this morning. Some owners had to use generators, while others scrambled to alert staff and navigate obstacles.

“Having a little bit more warning would be nice,” said Cole Butler, the manager of Bueno Grill. “We woke up this morning and I just found out about it around 9 o’clock. I was planning on coming in at 10, so I well made a stop at the store and got some dry ice. We may or may not be open today.”

Butler says food and produce preservation is the name of the game. “It’s all about saving products right now when we are not open. The refrigerator is not working. We just kind of need to hunker down and store.”

The restaurant says they will be down a couple thousand dollars, due to the outage. Even the employees will be without a check. “I got word that the power is not expected to come back on until tomorrow at noon. I had to re-text and say it looks like you’re not coming in. We don’t need you today because we won’t be open,” said Mimi Butler.

The owner says the shop is rarely closed throughout the year and she is not used to turning customers away. “I had to change our outgoing message and forward phone calls from the business to my personal phone so I can let our customers know what’s happening and why we are closed. Hopefully, invite them to come back tomorrow when we are open again.”

NV Energy says some of the impacted zones will have power restored tonight and the rest hopefully sometime tomorrow.

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After a lengthy process that brought industry and activists to the table, Nevada approved its first-ever set of rules to protect indoor and outdoor workers from the heat.

The Nevada secretary of state’s office signed the regulation on Wednesday, now compelling businesses with more than 10 employees to craft a heat protection plan that addresses its specific needs. Nevada’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration will be able to enforce those plans once they are created.

“Approval of this regulation is a critical step to reduce the health risks of heat exposure for Nevada workers in indoor and outdoor settings,” Division of Industrial Relations Administrator Victoria Carreon said in a statement. “This regulation is the culmination of four years of discussion and engagement with various stakeholders to develop a framework that works for Nevada’s workers and employers.”

It’s been a record summer in Southern Nevada, with at least 402 instances where heat has led to someone’s death this year, according to the Clark County coroner’s office.

Heat complaints to OSHA are on the rise, too, with 467 across the state, 401 of which were filed in Southern Nevada.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.