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Heat Illness Prevention Plan Generator

There is no federal OSHA heat standard, so nothing tells you what a heat illness prevention plan has to look like. Two public documents come close: the eight questions OSHA says a heat plan should answer, and Appendix I of the 2026 heat National Emphasis Program — the eleven-point list a compliance officer works through when evaluating a heat program. This generator builds a plan around both, then prints it on one clean Letter sheet.

Hazardous heat happens indoors too — bakeries, foundries, boiler rooms, warehouses.
Review before the hot season, and again after any heat-related incident.
The person on site who monitors conditions and runs this plan through the workday — OSHA planning page, NEP Appendix I #11.

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Template for informational purposes only. This document must be reviewed and adapted by a competent or qualified person for your specific jobsite, equipment, and applicable federal, state, and local requirements. It does not constitute legal, engineering, or safety advice and does not by itself establish compliance with OSHA or any other standard. SteelToeTools assumes no liability for its use. Nothing you type is sent to our servers.

How to use this plan

  1. 1
    Name one person, with a phone number. OSHA’s planning page asks first who provides oversight on a daily basis, and Appendix I of the heat NEP asks last whether the program is managed by a designated heat safety representative. A job title in a binder does not answer either question. Write the name, the number and what that person is allowed to change.
  2. 2
    Decide how you will know it is too hot, before the hot day. WBGT is what OSHA recommends because it accounts for temperature, humidity, radiant heat and wind; the heat index is a screening tool measured in the shade that ignores workload. Pick your method, pick your workload row, and write the number down. The heat index calculator screens a forecast in seconds.
  3. 3
    Set the acclimatization schedule in advance. Almost half of heat-related deaths happen on a worker’s first day and more than 70 percent in the first week. Enter your normal shift length and the plan prints the Rule of 20 Percent day by day, so the foreman is not doing arithmetic at 6 a.m.
  4. 4
    Tick only what the site really has. Two coolers and a canopy that exist beat eight bullet points that do not. The unticked lines simply do not print.
  5. 5
    Put the plan to work the same day. Brief it with a pre-task plan, record the heat hazard for the specific task in a JHA, and run the crew briefing off the heat stress toolbox talk.

What OSHA requires

There is no federal OSHA heat standard. OSHA published a proposed rule, Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings, on August 30, 2024. The comment period closed January 14, 2025, an informal public hearing ran June 16 to July 2, 2025, and post-hearing comments closed October 30, 2025. As of the update date on this page, no final rule has issued. Nothing on this page is a prediction of what a final rule will say.

What exists today is Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, the General Duty Clause: a workplace free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. Appendix J of the current heat National Emphasis Program is explicit that any heat-related citation, indoor or outdoor, shall be issued under that clause when all elements of a violation are established. Several ordinary standards also apply to hot work environments: potable water under 29 CFR 1926.51 and 1910.141, first aid under 1926.50 and 1910.151, PPE hazard assessment under 1910.132(d) and 1926.28, training under 1926.21, and recordkeeping and reporting under 29 CFR 1904.

The enforcement checklist you are being measured against

OSHA Directive CPL 03-00-024, the National Emphasis Program for outdoor and indoor heat-related hazards, took effect on April 10, 2026 and superseded the 2022 NEP. Two operational facts matter on a jobsite. A heat priority day is a day the heat index is expected to reach 80 °F or more; on those days an inspector opened for any other reason is told to ask whether a heat program exists. And programmed inspections shall occur on any day the National Weather Service has announced a heat warning or advisory for the local area.

Appendix I of that directive is the list the compliance officer works through. This form is built so that a finished plan answers all eleven:

Appendix I, “Evaluation of a Heat Program” — CPL 03-00-024 (April 10, 2026)
#What the compliance officer determinesOn this form
1Is there a heat program, written or verbal, effectively communicated to employees?The plan itself; “plan kept at”
2How did the employer monitor ambient temperature and levels of work exertion?Section 2
3Sufficient cool water, easily accessible?Section 4
4Additional breaks for hydration allowed?Section 4
5Scheduled rest breaks?Section 4
6Access to a shaded area?Section 4
7Time given for acclimatization of new and returning workers?Section 5
8Administrative controls used — earlier start times, workload adjustments, job rotation?Section 3
9Training on signs, reporting, first aid, contacting emergency personnel, prevention, hydration?Section 7
10Do employees and supervisors understand the program?Section 7
11Is the program implemented and managed by a designated heat safety representative?Section 1

The eight questions OSHA says a heat plan should answer

OSHA’s Planning and Supervision page asks employers to settle these before the hot day: who provides oversight daily; how new workers gradually develop heat tolerance; how first aid is kept adequate and the protocol for summoning medical assistance beyond first aid stays effective; what engineering controls and work practices will be used; how heat stress will be measured; how to respond when the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory or warning; how total heat stress is judged hazardous; and what training workers and supervisors get. The person responsible must know how to identify and control heat hazards, recognize early symptoms, administer first aid, and activate emergency medical services quickly.

When is it too hot? The numbers OSHA publishes

OSHA recommends wet bulb globe temperature, measured on site, and compares the effective WBGT — measured WBGT plus a clothing adjustment factor — against limits that depend on workload and acclimatization. These are OSHA’s Table 2 figures, adapted from NIOSH 2016:

Effective WBGT limits by workload — OSHA Heat Hazard Recognition, Table 2, adapted from NIOSH guidelines (2016)
WorkloadUnacclimatized workers (action limit)Acclimatized workers (threshold limit value)
Light82.4 °F (28 °C)86 °F (30 °C)
Moderate77 °F (25 °C)82.4 °F (28 °C)
Heavy73.4 °F (23 °C)78.8 °F (26 °C)
Very heavy69.8 °F (21 °C)77 °F (25 °C)

Clothing adjustment factors, from the same page: work clothing and cloth coveralls 0; SMS coveralls +0.9 °F; polyolefin coveralls +1.8 °F; double-layer cloth +5.4 °F; limited-use vapor-barrier coveralls +19.8 °F.

If you screen with the heat index instead, use it as a screen and nothing more. The OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool app sorts it into Caution below 80 °F, Warning 80–94 °F, Danger 95 °F or higher. OSHA reports that outdoor workers have died of heat stroke when the day’s maximum heat index was only 86 °F, and the NEP notes fatalities below 80 °F where aggravating factors were present. Direct sunlight alone can add up to 13.5 °F to the heat index.

Acclimatization: the Rule of 20 Percent

OSHA and NIOSH recommend that a worker new to the heat works 20 percent of the normal duration on the first day and adds 20 percent each following day, reaching a full schedule by the end of the first week. OSHA’s worked example puts day one on an 8-hour shift at “no more than 1 hour and 40 minutes”; 20 percent of 480 minutes is in fact 1 hour 36 minutes, and the schedule printed by this generator uses the exact percentage. Reduce duration, not intensity: light duty does not prepare anyone for heavy work in the heat. OSHA cites Tustin 2018 for the reason this matters — almost half of heat-related deaths occur on a worker’s first day on the job or first day back after an extended absence, and over 70 percent occur during the first week. “New” also covers workers returning after an absence of a week or more, the first warm days of spring, and any day much hotter than the days before it.

If your state has its own rule, that rule governs

State Plans may have requirements federal OSHA does not. OSHA’s heat standards page names California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington as states with heat exposure standards; Maryland adopted COMAR 09.12.32 effective September 30, 2024, and Nevada adopted a heat illness regulation enforced from April 29, 2025. Their triggers, plan contents and record requirements differ from each other and from anything on this page, so read yours at the source rather than a summary:

This generator produces a template. It does not establish compliance with the General Duty Clause, with a State Plan rule, or with a future federal standard; the employer remains responsible for the accuracy of the plan and for putting it into practice.

Frequently asked questions

Not by name, and not federally. There is no federal OSHA heat standard: the proposed rule published on August 30, 2024 is still in rulemaking, and no final rule has issued. What OSHA does have is Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, the General Duty Clause, and Appendix J of the 2026 heat National Emphasis Program says plainly that any heat citation shall be issued under the General Duty Clause. Appendix I of that same directive opens with the question a compliance officer asks first: is there a heat program, written or verbal, that is effectively communicated to employees? A written plan is the cheapest way to answer yes. Several states — California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and Washington — do require one by regulation, so check your state plan.

OSHA's planning page lists eight questions to answer: who provides oversight on a daily basis; how new workers gradually develop heat tolerance; how the employer ensures first aid is adequate and the protocol for summoning medical assistance beyond first aid is effective; what engineering controls and work practices will be used; how heat stress will be measured; how to respond when the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory or warning; how you determine whether total heat stress is hazardous; and what training will be given to workers and supervisors. Appendix I of the heat NEP adds the enforcement view of the same ground: cool water within easy reach, extra hydration breaks, scheduled rest breaks, shade, acclimatization time, administrative controls, training, understanding by employees and supervisors, and a designated heat safety representative who actually runs the program.

There is no federal number. The heat NEP defines a heat priority day as a day when the heat index is expected to be 80 °F or more, and programmed inspections occur on any day the National Weather Service has announced a heat warning or advisory for the area. The OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool app sorts the heat index into Caution below 80 °F, Warning 80 to 94 °F, and Danger at 95 °F or higher. Those are screening levels, not limits: OSHA reports that outdoor workers have died of heat stroke when the day's maximum heat index was only 86 °F, and the NEP notes fatalities below 80 °F when aggravating factors are present. For an actual limit, OSHA points to wet bulb globe temperature and the workload-based table adapted from NIOSH 2016 — down to 69.8 °F effective WBGT for unacclimatized workers doing very heavy work.

It is the acclimatization schedule OSHA and NIOSH recommend for workers who are new to working in the heat: work only 20 percent of the normal duration in the heat on the first day, then add 20 percent each following day until the worker is on a normal schedule by the end of the first week. OSHA's worked example puts day one of an 8-hour shift at 'no more than 1 hour and 40 minutes'; 20 percent of 480 minutes is 1 hour 36 minutes, and this generator prints the exact percentage. It matters because almost half of heat-related deaths happen on a worker's first day on the job or first day back after an extended absence, and more than 70 percent happen in the first week (Tustin 2018, cited by OSHA). Reduce the duration of the work, not its intensity — light duty does not acclimatize anyone to heavy work.

More people than most crews expect. OSHA includes new, temporary and existing employees starting new work in warm or hot environments, or starting to wear extra clothing, or increasing their physical activity; workers returning after an absence of one week or more; workers moving through seasonal change as temperatures first rise in spring or early summer; and everyone on a day that is significantly warmer than the days before it. That last group is the one plans usually miss: a heat wave makes an entire acclimatized crew unacclimatized for the conditions that day.

One named person on site. OSHA's planning page says an individual at the worksite should be responsible for monitoring conditions and implementing the plan throughout the workday — a foreman, jobsite supervisor, plant manager, safety director or anyone else with the proper training — and that proper training means knowing how to identify and control heat hazards, recognize early symptoms of heat stress, administer first aid for heat-related illnesses, and activate emergency medical services quickly. Appendix I of the NEP asks whether the program is properly implemented and managed by a designated heat safety representative, so write the name and the phone number on the plan, not the job title alone.

Both, depending on severity. Under 29 CFR 1904 a work-related heat illness is recordable if it results in days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, or medical treatment beyond first aid — OSHA gives intravenous fluids as an example of a recordable case, and being told to drink fluids as an example of one that is not. Under 29 CFR 1904.39 all work-related fatalities are reported to OSHA within eight hours and all work-related inpatient hospitalizations within twenty-four hours, and OSHA says explicitly that this covers heat illness, heat stroke, kidney injury and rhabdomyolysis that result in death or inpatient hospitalization.

Treat every symptom as heat illness and do not try to diagnose which one. OSHA's guidance is to move the worker to a cooler area, cool them immediately with active cooling — cold water or ice bath immersion is described as the best method to cool workers rapidly in an emergency — remove outer layers, put ice or cold wet towels on the head, neck, trunk, armpits and groin, use fans, and never leave the worker alone. Confusion, slurred speech or unconsciousness are signs of heat stroke: call 911 immediately and keep cooling until help arrives. When in doubt, cool the worker and call 911.

No, and no template can. A plan is a description of what your site actually does; the value comes from the water, the shade, the breaks, the acclimatization schedule and the person watching the crew, not from the paper. Print measures you really use and leave out the ones you do not — a plan that describes shade nobody has ever seen is the document a compliance officer reads back to you. Review it at least annually, and re-read it the day a final federal heat standard issues.

Sources & references

Content checked against these sources — last reviewed August 28, 2026.

By — Editorial team of SteelToeTools.com (published by LSEA SAS) Updated v1