According to the council, extreme heat adds an additional layer of complexity to jobsite risks and a need for stronger safety enforcement, with nearly 28,000 workplace related injuries linked to hot weather per year, according to the report.

“The Dirty Dozen 2026 makes clear that these tragedies are not accidents, they are the result of choices,” said Council Executive Director Jessica E. Martinez in announcing the report. “Employers must be held accountable, and workers must be empowered to speak out without fear.”

Increasing Heat Protections

At a federal level, the Council also seeks increased accountability from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration amid a 47% drop in federal workplace health and safety penalties in 2025 according to a report by Good Jobs First, citing complex subcontracting systems allowing companies to evade responsibility.

OSHA first proposed a national heat standard in 2024, during the Biden administration. Although the public comment period closed in 2025, the agency has yet to finalize the rule. OSHA did extend its 2022 National Emphasis program for outdoor and heat-related hazards to 2031, two days after it expired on April 8. 

But Martinez says extending the heat emphasis program is an inadequate solution because it lacks the heft an enforcement program would provide and will leave millions of workers without guaranteed protections. 

“This directive weakens OSHA’s ability to proactively identify dangerous conditions and shifts responsibility onto employers, where we know too often safety is treated as optional," she told ENR. 

Without a strong, enforceable standard, "basic protections like water, shade, rest, and acclimatization are still not guaranteed," Martinez said, adding, "As extreme heat intensifies, workers are being asked to rely on a system that falls short. OSHA must move beyond temporary measures and deliver a permanent standard that actually protects workers’ lives.”

The revised emphasis program removed 46 sectors from its heat inspection guidelines but added 22 new ones, keeping the list of targeted industries OSHA considers most at risk to 55. Those include general freight trucking and logistics, plastic product manufacturing, animal slaughtering and processing, scheduled air transportation, department stores, community food and housing services, individual and family services, and telecommunications carriers.

Although there is no official federal standard or law requiring employers to protect workers from extreme heat, the emphasis program directive does enable OSHA to proactively inspect high-risk workplaces to prevent heat-related illnesses, injuries and deaths, according to the agency, which says it can issue heat citations under its general duty clause, even when not on a heat-related inspection. 

OSHA began the rulemaking process to consider a heat-specific workplace standard in 2021, publishing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings in the Federal Register.

The emphasis program directive uses OSHA and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data from calendar years 2022-2025 in setting its inspection priorities. According to the bureau census of fatal occupational injuries, exposure to environmental heat killed 999 workers in the U.S. between 1992 and 2021. Yet the OSHA warns that heat-related illnesses are widely underreported due to inconsistent diagnosis and reporting challenges.