New Nevada Heat Enforcement Seen Lax

Since a new extreme heat regulation took effect at the end of April, Nevada OSHA has cited two businesses for a lack of proper paperwork, according to investigation reports and employee interviews obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Critics said the sole requirement of having an enforceable heat safety plan on file and conducting a one-time job hazard analysis isn’t enough to keep workers safe on heat emergency days.
Nevada OSHA has cited only two businesses under the regulation. Both had heat safety plans but had not completed a job hazard analysis, according to internal violation reports.
Separately, Nevada OSHA has formally adopted a federal program change that revises how high-risk workplaces are selected for safety inspections.
The state’s Division of Industrial Relations issued a notice to Nevada businesses last week confirming the adoption of CPL 02-01-067, a Site-Specific Targeting (SST) directive issued by federal OSHA that went into effect May 20, 2025.
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While OSHA’s FY2026 congressional budget justification suggested significant headcount reductions over the next two years and a corresponding reduction in inspection activity, the bill reported out of the Senate Committee on Appropriations showed little change from the previous year’s levels, according to Ogletree lawyer John Surma.
His analysis found that S. 2587 calls for setting OSHA’s FY2026 budget at $632.31 million, maintaining the FY2025 funding level.
The bill sets key priorities as enforcement, compliance assistance, state plan grants, workplace violence prevention, opioid use guidance, and continued exemptions for small farms.
OSHA would be prohibited from reducing funding or staffing for the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP), or Federal Compliance Assistance, and from collecting fees from participants in these programs.
“While many bemoaned the potential demise of OSHA, particularly in light of Representative Andy Biggs’s (R-AZ) ‘Nullify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act’ — ‘NOSHA Act’ (H.R. 86)—it seems unlikely this Congress will act to eliminate the agency,” Surma wrote.
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U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said Friday that the $16,500 OSHA fine assessed to a Tyson Foods plant in Camilla isn’t “meaningful” enough to prevent further accidents.
“Georgia poultry workers are essential to one of our state’s most important industries, and the failures to inflict meaningful consequences on companies that put those lives at risk allow abuse to fester,” Ossoff said in a statement.
The fine, to the plant’s distributer, Keystones Manufacturer, was issued last month following an OSHA investigation into a December 2024 incident that resulted in the death of one person.
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