As summer temperatures climb, heat illness prevention deserves renewed attention in printing operations. Although OSHA has proposed but not yet issued a final heat illness prevention standard, it is actively enforcing heat-related hazards through its updated April 2026 National Emphasis Program (NEP) for indoor and outdoor workplaces. While printing operations are not identified as a priority industry under the NEP, companies should not assume that the absence of a federal standard means the absence of enforcement. Employers have a responsibility to protect workers from known hazards under OSHA’s General Duty Clause and may be cited when recognized heat hazards are not adequately controlled. The NEP focuses on water, rest, cooling, acclimatization, training, monitoring, emergency response, and documentation. Accordingly, these factors should be addressed by employers.
State Requirements Are Moving Faster
Several state OSHA programs and state labor agencies already enforce heat illness prevention requirements. California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington are among the states with heat-related requirements or sector-specific rules, and Virginia is currently working on a state standard. These programs vary, but many include written plans, employee and supervisor training, access to drinking water, cool-down or shaded areas, rest breaks, acclimatization procedures, emergency response steps, and temperature-based triggers.
Printing operations should verify the requirements in every state where they operate, especially where indoor heat rules apply. Pressrooms, binding and finishing areas, warehouses, shipping docks, maintenance shops, and areas near dryers, ovens, compressors, or poorly ventilated equipment can all create heat exposure concerns even when work is indoors.
Practical Steps for Printing Operations
A strong heat illness prevention program for printing facilities should start with a job and area assessment. Identify work areas where heat builds up, including press lines, curing and drying equipment, enclosed rooms, loading docks, mezzanines, warehouses, and outdoor installation locations. The assessment should also include maintenance staff, delivery personnel, sign and graphic installers, vehicle wrap teams, field service employees, and others who work outdoors, inside vehicles, on roofs or ladders, near asphalt or concrete, or in customer locations where the employer may not control the environment. Measure temperature and humidity during representative conditions, consider workload and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and pay attention to employees working overtime, second shifts, during seasonal heat waves, or under direct sun, reflected heat, or limited air movement.
- Create a heat illness prevention plan. Conduct a hazard analysis to identify jobs, tasks, and work areas where employees may be at risk, including indoor production areas and outdoor sign, graphics, and installation work. Use those findings to develop a prevention program that fits the facility and field operations. The plan should address heat triggers, water, rest, cooling, fans, shade, clothing and PPE choices, acclimatization, supervisor responsibilities, employee reporting, emergency response, and documentation. Facilities in state OSHA plan locations should compare their plan against applicable state heat illness prevention requirements.
- Check the heat index and set action triggers. The heat index, which accounts for both temperature and humidity, is a better indicator of heat illness risk than temperature alone. Start precautions around an 80°F heat index and increase protections at 90°F and above. Printing operations should monitor conditions in pressrooms, bindery areas, warehouses, loading docks, and other areas where heat can build up indoors.
- Provide ample water and rest breaks. Make cool drinking water readily available and encourage employees to drink water frequently. OSHA recommends that employees drink 4 to 6 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes. Build water and rest breaks into the work schedule, allow unscheduled cool-down breaks when needed, and ensure managers remind employees to use them.
- Provide fans, cooling areas, shade, and other heat controls. Provide fans, cooled break rooms, air-conditioned spaces, cooled seats or benches, portable spot cooling, ventilation improvements, reflective barriers, insulation around hot surfaces, or other designated cooling areas inside the building. For outdoor work, loading docks, shipping areas, sign installation, vehicle wraps, surveys, and service calls, provide shade or equivalent cooling when needed, such as pop-up canopies, shaded staging areas, air-conditioned vehicles for recovery breaks, misting fans where appropriate, and ready access to cool drinking water.
- Evaluate clothing and cooling PPE. Clothing and PPE can either reduce or increase heat stress, so choose options that provide required protection without unnecessarily trapping heat. Consider lightweight, breathable, moisture-wicking, light-colored, or high-visibility garments where compatible with the task and required hazard protection. For outdoor sign and graphic installation, consider wide-brim hard hat shades, neck shades, cooling towels, cooling bandanas, cooling sleeves, evaporative or phase-change cooling vests, water-cooled or air-cooled garments for higher-risk work, and other cooling PPE. Employers should also account for PPE that adds heat burden, such as gloves, respirators, chemical-resistant clothing, waterproof aprons, or protective coveralls, and adjust work/rest schedules accordingly.
- Schedule work around heat conditions. Plan the most strenuous work for early mornings, cooler parts of the day, or cooler parts of the shift when feasible. Rotate workers to reduce prolonged exposure and consider adjusting schedules during heat waves or when employees are working near dryers, curing equipment, compressors, other heat-generating processes, or outdoor installation surfaces such as roofs, asphalt, concrete, or building facades that can radiate heat.
- Acclimatize new and returning workers. The risk of heat illness is highest during the first few days on the job or after time away from hot conditions. Ease new or returning employees into hot work gradually over five to seven days, start with lighter tasks when feasible, increase workload over time, and pair employees with trained supervisors for closer monitoring during the acclimatization period.
- Train supervisors and employees to recognize warning signs of heat illness, and the importance of hydration, cool-down breaks, reporting procedures, first aid, and emergency response. Designate and train someone to monitor worker health and workplace conditions during extreme heat. Also consider instituting a buddy system on hot days, particularly for outdoor installers, employees working alone or in small crews, and employees working in customer locations, and make sure employees know how to report symptoms quickly before they become serious.
Preparing for OSHA
During an OSHA inspection, compliance officers commonly review whether the employer has evaluated indoor heat sources, monitors workplace conditions, provides adequate water and cooling, acclimatizes new workers, trains employees and supervisors, documents corrective actions, and responds appropriately to heat-related illnesses. Facilities should maintain written records of heat assessments, training, monitoring results, and any corrective actions taken. Facilities operating in multiple states should verify the heat illness prevention requirements applicable to each location and document compliance. These records demonstrate a proactive approach to managing recognized hazards.
Heat Illness Prevention Resources
The following resources provide current regulatory requirements, guidance documents, and practical tools for developing and maintaining an effective heat illness prevention program.
- OSHA Heat Illness Prevention: https://www.osha.gov/heat-exposure
- OSHA National Emphasis Program – Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/directives/CPL_03-00-024_0.pdf
- NIOSH Heat Stress: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/heat-stress/
- OSHA/NIOSH Heat Safety Tool App: https://www.osha.gov/heat/heat-app
Conclusion
Heat illness prevention is now an enforcement, compliance, and operational issue for the printing industry. Even without a final federal OSHA standard, employers should treat the OSHA National Emphasis Program and state heat rules as a roadmap for action. A practical, documented program that addresses engineering controls, indoor heat sources, employee training, acclimatization, hydration, rest, cooling, monitoring, emergency response, contractor coverage, and continuous improvement after incidents will help protect employees and position printing operations for inspections, customer audits, and future regulatory changes.
In this article, Gary Jones, Vice President, EHS Affairs, PRINTING United Alliance, addresses heat injury and illness prevention. More information about heat injury and illness can be found at Business Excellence-EHS Affairs or by reaching out to Gary directly if you have additional questions specific to how these issues may affect your business: gjones@printing.org.
To become a member of PRINTING United Alliance and learn more about how our subject matter experts can assist your company with services and resources such as those mentioned in this article, please contact the Alliance membership team: 888-385-3588 / membership@printing.org.