HB2683 - 562R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Title 23, chapter 2, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 23-207, to read:

START_STATUTE23-207. Heat illness prevention; private right of action; rules; definitions

A. The industrial commission of Arizona shall adopt rules establishing standards for every industry that may be affected by heat illness as provided in this section that are designed to protect employees from heat illness while engaged in indoor and outdoor work. These standards apply to all indoor and outdoor places of employment and to all employers that fall within the jurisdiction of the division of occupational safety and health. The commission shall create specific standards for the following industries:

1. Agriculture.

2. Construction.

3. Landscaping.

4. Oil and gas extraction.

5. Airport workers.

6. Mail and package delivery workers.

7. Transportation or delivery of agricultural products, construction materials or other heavy materials, including furniture, lumber, freight, cargo, cabinets and industrial or commercial materials, except for employment that consists of operating an air-conditioned vehicle and that does not include loading or unloading.

B. Standards adopted pursuant to this section must require each employer to provide potable water and access to facilities as follows:

1. An employer shall provide employees, at no cost to the employees, access to drinking water in quantities sufficient to maintain adequate levels of hydration at varying levels of heat, using a baseline of one cup of cool water per fifteen to twenty minutes, as well as electrolytes if employees have been working for over an hour in conditions at or above ninety degrees fahrenheit.

2. The water and access to a restroom must be located as close as practicable to the areas where employees are working and may not be farther than four hundred feet walking distance from an employee's work area.

3. Employers may begin the shift with smaller quantities of water that are replenished during the shift as needed.

4. The employer shall provide water that is suitably cool and potable and shall provide the water to employees free of charge.

5. The employer shall encourage the frequent drinking of water as described in subsection H, paragraph 3, subdivision (c).

C. Standards adopted pursuant to this section shall require each employer to provide access to shade or a climate-controlled environment as follows:

1. When the temperature in the work area is more than ninety degrees Fahrenheit, the employer shall provide and maintain at all times while employees are present one or more areas with shade or a climate-controlled environment that are either open to the air or provided with ventilation or cooling. The amount of shade or climate-controlled environment provided shall be at least enough to accommodate the number of employees on rest periods so that they can sit in a normal posture fully in the shade or climate-controlled environment without having to be in physical contact with each other. The shade or climate-controlled environment shall be located as close as practicable to the areas where employees are working. Subject to the same specifications, the amount of shade or climate-controlled environment present during meal periods shall be at least enough to accommodate the number of employees on the meal period who remain on-site.

2. When the temperature in the work area is not more than ninety degrees Fahrenheit during daylight hours, employers shall provide either shade or a climate-controlled environment in accordance with paragraph 1 of this subsection or provide access to shade or a climate-controlled environment on an employee's request.

3. An employer shall allow and encourage employees to take a cool-down rest period in the shade or climate-controlled environment for preventative measures. An employer shall comply with all of the following when an employee takes a preventative cool-down rest period pursuant to this paragraph:

(a) The employer shall ask if the employee is experiencing symptoms of heat illness.

(b) The employer shall encourage the employee to remain in the shade or climate-controlled environment.

(c) The employer may not order the employee back to work until any signs or symptoms of heat illness have abated, but not less than five minutes in addition to the time needed to access the shade or climate-controlled environment.

4. When the temperature is more than ninety degrees Fahrenheit in a vehicle that is idle or not producing air conditioning.

5. When the employee is working in an attic, the employee must have access to cool air and sufficient breaks.

D. Standards adopted pursuant to this section shall require each employer to implement high-heat procedures that do all of the following when the temperature equals or exceeds ninety degrees Fahrenheit:

1. Ensure that employees are able to contact their supervisor by any method of effective communication when necessary.

2. Require an employer to effectively observe and monitor employees for signs or symptoms of heat illness by implementing two or more of the following policies:

(a) A requirement that there be at least one supervisor or supervisor's designee responsible for observing and monitoring each group of twenty or fewer employees.

(b) A mandatory buddy system.

(d) Other effective means of observation.

3. Designate one or more employees on each worksite who are authorized to call for emergency medical services, and if no designated employees are available, allow other employees to call on their behalf.

4. Require reminding employees throughout the work shift to stay properly hydrated.

5. For employees employed in agriculture, require pre-shift meetings before the beginning of each work shift to review the high-heat procedures, encourage employees to drink plenty of water and remind employees of their right to take a cool-down rest period when necessary.

E. Standards adopted pursuant to this section shall require each employer to provide rest periods that range in duration from fifteen to forty-five minutes per hour, depending on the workplace temperature and worker activity level.

F. Standards adopted pursuant to this section shall require each employer to implement effective emergency response procedures pursuant to which the employer shall both:

1. Ensure that effective communication by voice, observation or electronic means is maintained so that employees at the worksite can contact a supervisor or emergency medical services when necessary. An electronic device, such as a cellphone or text messaging device, may be used for this purpose only if reception in the area is reliable.

2. Respond to signs and symptoms of possible heat illness if a supervisor observes, or any employee reports, any signs or symptoms of heat illness in any employee. The supervisor shall take immediate action commensurate with the severity of the illness, including first aid measures and contacting emergency medical services. If the employee exhibits signs or symptoms severe enough to indicate heat illness, the employee may not be sent home without being offered on-site first aid or provided with emergency medical services.

G. Standards adopted pursuant to this section shall require that all employees who begin employment in high-heat environments, or who will be working in hotter conditions than usual, such as during a heat wave, be gradually acclimatized to the work over a period of between seven and fourteen days.

H. Standards adopted pursuant to this section shall require each employer to provide effective training to employees and supervisors that meets all of the following requirements:

1. Is in a language that the employee or supervisor understands.

2. Is provided to each supervisor before supervising employees performing work that may reasonably result in exposure to the risk of heat illness and to each nonsupervisory employee before the employee begins work that may reasonably result in exposure to the risk of heat illness.

3. Covers all of the following topics:

(a) The environmental risk factors for heat illness and personal risk factors for heat illness, including medical conditions, water consumption, alcohol use, the use of medications that affect the body's response to the heat and the burden caused by personal protective equipment.

(b) The employer's procedures for complying with the standards adopted pursuant to this section, including the employer's responsibility to provide water, shade or a climate-controlled environment, cool-down rest periods and access to first aid, as well as the employee's right to exercise rights under these standards without retaliation.

(c) The importance of frequent consumption of water, up to four cups per hour, when the work environment is above ninety degrees Fahrenheit and employees are likely sweating more than usual.

(d) The importance of acclimatization.

(e) The different types of heat illness, the common signs and symptoms of heat illness and appropriate first aid and emergency responses to the different types of heat illness.

(f) The importance of immediately reporting to the employer, directly or through the employee's supervisor, symptoms or signs of heat illness in themselves or in coworkers.

(g) The employer's procedures for responding to signs or symptoms of possible heat illness, including how emergency medical services will be contacted and provided should they become necessary.

4. For supervisors, in addition to the requirements of paragraph 3 of this subsection, covers the procedures the supervisor is required to follow:

(a) To implement the applicable standards adopted pursuant to this section.

(b) When an employee exhibits signs or reports symptoms consistent with possible heat illness, including emergency response procedures.

I. In adopting standards pursuant to this section, the industrial commission of Arizona shall consider criteria relating to recommended standards for occupational exposure to heat and hot environments established by a national institute for occupational safety and health.

J. The rules adopted by the industrial commission of Arizona pursuant to this section shall include the following:

1. Building requirements for interior work environments that include air circulation and insulation standards.

2. Educational and training requirements for employees related to heat illness identification, prevention and preparation.

3. Personal protective equipment for employees in temperatures of more than ninety degrees fahrenheit that includes cooling towels and hats for sun protection.

4. Enforcement provisions.

K. An employer may not discharge or discriminate in any other manner against employees for exercising their rights under this section.

L. An employee may bring a private right of action for a violation of this section in a court of competent jurisdiction to do either or both of the following:

1. Enjoin the violation.

2. Recover actual monetary losses from the violation or receive $500 in damages for each violation, whichever is greater.

M. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Acclimatization" means the gradual, temporary adaptation of the body to work in the heat when a person is exposed to heat.

2. "Buddy system" means a procedure in which two individuals, the buddies, operate together as a single unit so that they are able to MONITOR and help each other.

3. "Environmental risk factors for heat illness" means working conditions that create the possibility that heat illness could occur, including air temperature, relative humidity, radiant heat from the sun and other sources, conductive heat sources such as the ground, air movement, workload severity and duration, protective clothing and personal protective equipment worn by employees.

4. "Heat illness":

(a) Means a serious medical condition resulting from the body's inability to cope with a particular heat load.

(b) Includes heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heat syncope and heat stroke.

5. "Heat wave" means any day in which the predicted high temperature for the day will be at least ninety degrees Fahrenheit and at least ten degrees Fahrenheit higher than the average high daily temperature in the preceding five days.

6. "Landscaping":

(a) Means providing landscape care and maintenance services, installing trees, shrubs, plants, lawns or gardens or providing these services in conjunction with the design of landscape plans.

(b) Includes constructing, installing or maintaining walkways, retaining walls, decks, fences, ponds and similar structures.

7. "Oil and gas extraction" means operating or developing oil and gas field properties, exploring for crude petroleum or natural gas, mining or extracting of oil or gas or recovering liquid hydrocarbons from oil or gas field gases.

8. "Personal risk factors for heat illness" means factors such as an individual's age, degree of acclimatization, health, water consumption and use of prescription medications that affect the body's water retention or other physiological responses to heat.

9. "Potable water" has the same meaning prescribed in 29 Code of Federal Regulations section 1910.141(a)(2).

10. "Rest period" means a cool-down period made available to an employee to prevent heat illness.

11. "Shade" means the complete blockage of direct sunlight that allows the body to cool. Shade may be provided by any artificial means that does not expose employees to unsafe or unhealthy conditions and does not deter or discourage access or use. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 23-405, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE23-405. Duties and powers of the industrial commission of Arizona relative to occupational safety and health; reporting

The commission shall:

1. Administer the provisions of this article through the division of occupational safety and health.

2. Appoint the director of the division of occupational safety and health.

3. Cooperate with the federal government to establish and maintain an occupational safety and health program as effective as the federal occupational safety and health program.

4. Promulgate Adopt standards and regulations as required, pursuant to section 23-410, and promulgate adopt such other rules and regulations as are necessary for the efficient functioning of the division.

5. Have the authority to issue reasonable temporary, experimental and permanent variances pursuant to sections 23-411 and 23-412.

6. Exercise such other powers as are necessary to carry out the duties and requirements of this article.

7. Manage a telephone number that allows employees to report potential violations anonymously in English and other languages if an employer is not in compliance with the law. END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Industrial commission of Arizona; rules; report; delayed repeal

A. Within thirty days after the governor's regulatory review council's approval of the industrial commission of Arizona's proposed rules, the industrial commission of Arizona shall provide a copy of the rules to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the majority caucus of the senate, the minority caucus of the senate, the majority caucus of the house of representatives, the minority caucus of the house of representatives and the governor and submit a copy to the secretary of state.

B. This section is repealed from and after December 31, 2026.