What Happens When OSHA Shows Up Under the Heat NEP: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough for Small Employers (2026)

There is no federal heat standard arriving in 2026. The proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention rule is stalled with no scheduled Final Rule date, and a bill introduced in November 2025 would bar it from being finalized at all. But the absence of a federal standard does not mean an absence of enforcement. On April 10, 2026, OSHA replaced its expiring Heat National Emphasis Program with Directive CPL 03-00-024, signed by Assistant Secretary David L. Keeling and effective for five years. The directive identifies 55 high-hazard industries by NAICS code, expands the conditions under which inspections can happen, and adds a new framework — Appendix J — designed specifically to overcome the legal weaknesses that defeated several earlier OSHA heat cases at the Review Commission.

For a small employer in one of the targeted industries, the question is no longer whether a heat inspection could happen on a 90-degree afternoon. It is whether the documentation, the program, and the people on site are ready for one. This post walks through exactly what an inspection under the 2026 Heat NEP looks like — what triggers it, what an inspector does at the opening conference, what records they will ask for, what they look for during the walkaround, and what gets cited under the General Duty Clause.

The companion piece on logging heat cases under the 2026 Heat NEP covered which heat events go on the OSHA 300 Log. This post covers what happens when an inspector pulls that same log on the way in the door.

The 2026 Heat NEP at a Glance

The previous Heat NEP, in effect since April 2022, expired April 8, 2026. The replacement directive — CPL 03-00-024 — was signed and effective two days later. Section VII of the directive states verbatim: "This Instruction shall be operative for no more than five years from the effective date." That puts the current program in force through roughly April 10, 2031, absent earlier rescission or replacement.

The 2026 revision is not a minor refresh. Section VIII identifies the substantive changes: updated target industries, removed outdated background information, revised inspection goal, two new appendices (Appendix I on evaluation of a heat program and Appendix J on citation guidance), and new OSHA Information System codes for worksite assistance and unprogrammed emphasis hazards. The new appendices, in particular, signal a more structured enforcement posture than the prior NEP.

55 High-Hazard NAICS Codes — 33 Retained, 22 New

Appendix A to the directive identifies the targeted industries in three tables. Table 1 lists 35 non-construction industries in OSHA's ListGen scheduling system. Table 2 lists 8 construction NAICS codes, which are scheduled by worksite rather than by employer — per the directive's own footnote, "due to the mobility of the construction industry, the transitory nature of construction worksites, and work that frequently involves more than one construction employer on the site." Table 3 lists 12 additional non-construction industries with documented heat illness history that are not in ListGen but remain subject to programmed inspections under the NEP.

Twenty-two of the 55 industries were newly added in the 2026 revision. The complete list of newly added codes:

| NAICS | Industry | |---|---| | 1114 | Greenhouse, Nursery, and Floriculture Production | | 1122 | Hog and Pig Farming | | 2211 | Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution | | 3115 | Cheese Manufacturing | | 3116 | Animal Slaughtering and Processing | | 3261 | Plastic Product Manufacturing | | 3271 | Clay Product and Refractory Manufacturing | | 3273 | Cement and Concrete Product Manufacturing | | 3312 | Steel Product Manufacturing from Purchased Steel | | 3335 | Metalworking Machinery Manufacturing | | 3353 | Electrical Equipment Manufacturing | | 3379 | Other Furniture Related Product Manufacturing | | 4238 | Machinery, Equipment, and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers | | 4522 | Department Stores | | 4811 | Scheduled Air Transportation | | 4832 | Inland Water Transportation | | 4841 | General Freight Trucking | | 5173 | Wired and Wireless Telecommunications Carriers | | 5413 | Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services | | 5416 | Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services | | 6241 | Individual and Family Services | | 6242 | Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services |

The 33 retained industries include the eight construction NAICS codes in Table 2 (residential and nonresidential building, utility systems, highway/street/bridge, foundation/structure/exterior, building equipment, building finishing, and other specialty trade contractors) along with agriculture (cattle ranching, vegetable farming, support activities for crop production), heavy manufacturing (bakeries, sawmills, foundries, architectural and structural metals, petroleum and coal products), transportation and logistics (couriers, local messengers, warehousing, postal service, support activities for transportation), landscaping and waste collection, automotive repair, employment services, and restaurants. The full list is in Appendix A to the directive. Employers in retained industries were already subject to programmed inspection under the 2022 NEP and continue to be under CPL 03-00-024.

If your establishment is not in one of the 55 NAICS codes, you are still not exempt from heat enforcement. Complaints, referrals, severe injury reports, and unprogrammed expansion of inspections initiated for other reasons can all trigger a heat inspection regardless of industry classification. The NAICS list determines programmed inspections — not the agency's full reach.

The 90-Day Outreach Window for the 22 New Industries

Section XII.G.1 of the directive establishes a transitional protection for the newly added industries:

Each Regional Office or Area Office must implement a 90-day outreach program for the industries within their jurisdiction that were not previously targeted by the 2022 Heat NEP (see NAICS codes with † mark in Appendix A) prior to any programmed inspections in those industries.

Counted from the April 10, 2026 effective date, the 90-day window expires in early-to-mid July 2026. Until then, employers in the 22 newly added NAICS codes are protected from programmed inspection. They are not protected from complaints, referrals, severe injury reports, or expansion of an inspection that started for an unrelated reason. The window is a soft launch, not an exemption.

How a Heat Inspection Gets Opened

The directive recognizes three pathways to a heat inspection: programmed inspections on heat priority days, expansion of non-heat inspections, and unprogrammed inspections triggered by specific events.

The "Heat Priority Day" Trigger

The single most important operational definition in the directive is the heat priority day. Section XII.A states:

A heat priority day occurs when the heat index for the day is expected to be 80°F or more. On heat priority days, the AO will assess the potential for serious heat-related illnesses and injuries where such hazards may exist in indoor or outdoor work areas or provide worksite assistance.

For programmed inspections, the directive specifies that they occur "on any day that the NWS has announced a heat warning or advisory for the local area." Eighty degrees is not a high threshold. Across much of the country, that's most of summer — particularly when humidity is factored into the heat index calculation.

Expansion of Non-Heat Inspections

The most consequential provision for employers who are not in a targeted NAICS code is the expansion rule. Section XII.A:

CSHOs who are investigating for other purposes shall expand their inspection or refer a heat-related inspection for any hazardous heat conditions where there is evidence (e.g., injuries or illnesses recorded in both OSHA forms 300 and 301, employee statements, or "plain view" observations) of violative conditions.

In plain English: a Compliance Safety and Health Officer who arrives for a fall protection inspection in July, sees employees without water access, or finds heat-related entries on the 300 Log, is directed by the NEP to expand the inspection. The new OIS coding category for "Unprogrammed Emphasis Hazards" was added specifically to track these expansions. Heat is no longer a side observation — it is a parallel inspection track that any CSHO is authorized to open.

Unprogrammed Triggers

Complaints, referrals (including from the Wage and Hour Division under a May 2023 interagency MOU), severe injury reports, and fatality referrals all initiate heat inspections regardless of NAICS code, employer size, or the calendar. These pathways operate immediately and were operating throughout the 90-day outreach window.

The Opening Conference

When a CSHO arrives, the inspection begins with an opening conference. The employer has a right to a credentialed identification, a statement of the basis for the inspection, and an explanation of the scope. Verification of credentials before granting entry is appropriate; refusal of entry without counsel is not — Section 8 of the OSH Act and the amended walkaround rule at 29 CFR 1903.8 (effective May 31, 2024) give the agency a right to inspect.

The CSHO will identify whether the inspection is programmed under the Heat NEP, expanded from another inspection, or unprogrammed in response to a complaint or referral. They will verify the establishment's NAICS code and employee count, and identify the management and employee representatives who will accompany the walkaround. Both sides have a right to attend the opening conference, the walkaround, and the closing conference under Section 8(e) of the OSH Act.

Records Requested at the Opening

The first formal request will be for recordkeeping documents — OSHA Form 300 Logs, 300A annual summaries, and 301 incident reports for the current calendar year plus three prior calendar years. Records must be retained for five years under 29 CFR 1904.33, and the directive instructs CSHOs to review four years' worth at the opening.

The four-business-hour rule under 29 CFR 1904.40(b)(1) is non-negotiable: "When an authorized government representative asks for the records you keep under part 1904, you must provide copies of the records within four (4) business hours." If records are kept centrally in a different time zone, 1904.40(b)(2) modifies the deadline to use local hours at the records location. For employers running centralized recordkeeping across multiple sites, the multi-establishment recordkeeping guide covers the production logistics.

The 300 Log review targets heat-related entries — cases logged as heat illness, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, dehydration, or any case where the description field references heat exposure. Cases that should have been recorded but weren't are equally relevant; an inspector who finds a heat-related hospitalization that was never logged has the makings of a recordkeeping citation independent of any underlying heat hazard finding. The step-by-step 300 Log guide covers the recording standard.

The Walkaround

After the opening conference, the CSHO conducts a walkaround of the worksite. The directive expects this walkaround to be comprehensive — not limited to areas where logged injuries occurred, but evaluating heat hazards across the full establishment.

For outdoor work, the CSHO assesses direct sun exposure, the availability and proximity of shade, the locations of water access points relative to work areas, the structure of work-rest cycles, and the heat-retention properties of any required PPE. For indoor work, the assessment covers the same factors adapted to indoor environments — kitchens, foundries, dry cleaners, bakeries, warehouses without climate control, manufacturing floors with process heat. The directive references NIOSH Publication 2016-106 and the current ACGIH Threshold Limit Value for heat stress as the consensus standards by which heat hazards are evaluated.

Appendix I to the directive — Evaluation of a Heat Program — gives the CSHO a structured checklist of controls to evaluate: water (cool, potable, accessible, sufficient quantity), shade or climate-controlled cool-down areas sized for simultaneous occupancy, rest breaks (scheduled and unscheduled, paid), acclimatization protocols for new hires and workers returning from absences of seven days or more, training on hazard recognition and supervisor escalation, and emergency response procedures including 911 access and GPS coordinates for ambulance routing.

CSHOs conduct private employee interviews during the walkaround, with the employer not present. Common questions cover whether workers received heat-illness training, whether water is consistently available, whether they feel permitted to take rest breaks when symptoms develop, and whether supervisors are attentive to signs of heat illness. The directive treats employee interviews as a primary source of evidence on the actual operational status of the heat program — distinct from what's written in the binder.

The CSHO may take Wet Bulb Globe Temperature readings on-site using a calibrated WBGT meter and will document the National Weather Service heat advisory or warning in effect at the time of inspection. WBGT readings, NWS data, and observed conditions together establish the environmental basis for any subsequent citation.

Documents the Inspector Will Ask For

Beyond the 300 Logs and 300A summaries requested at the opening conference, a comprehensive heat inspection will surface follow-up requests for the written heat illness prevention plan; heat training records by employee with dates, topics, and language of instruction; acclimatization documentation for new hires and workers returning from absences of seven or more days; water provision and equipment records; work-rest cycle protocols; medical surveillance records (where applicable); emergency response procedures with site-specific GPS coordinates; records of any heat-related complaints, near-misses, or first-aid cases that may not have reached the 300 Log; supervisor training records; and any prior OSHA citations or hazard alert letters related to heat.

The volume an inspector can request in a single visit is substantial. Centralized recordkeeping that cannot produce these documents within hours is functionally equivalent to no recordkeeping at all once a CSHO is on site.

What Gets Cited — The General Duty Clause Framework

In the absence of a federal heat standard, the General Duty Clause is OSHA's enforcement vehicle. Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, codified at 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1), states:

Each employer … shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.

To sustain a General Duty Clause citation, OSHA must prove four elements: a hazard existed; the hazard was recognized — by the employer specifically, by the industry generally, or via consensus standards from NIOSH, ACGIH, or similar bodies; the hazard was likely to cause death or serious physical harm; and a feasible means of abatement existed that would have materially reduced the hazard.

Why Appendix J Matters

The 2026 directive adds Appendix J — Citation Guidance for Heat-Related Citations. The appendix gives CSHOs a structured framework for documenting each of the four elements in a heat case. The structure appears designed to address the legal weaknesses that defeated several earlier OSHA heat cases at the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

In Secretary of Labor v. USPS (OSHRC Nos. 16-1713, 16-1872, 17-0023, 17-0279), the Commission vacated four of five heat citations on February 17, 2023, finding that OSHA had not adequately proven feasible abatement. In A.H. Sturgill Roofing Inc. (OSHRC, 2019), the Commission found OSHA's hazard definition — "excessive heat" — impermissibly vague. Appendix J responds to both lines of criticism: it requires CSHOs to define the specific heat hazard with reference to WBGT, NIOSH REL, or ACGIH TLV, and to document the specific feasible abatement measures already in use elsewhere in the industry. The appendix turns the General Duty Clause from a broad hazard catch-all into a structured case with documented elements.

Recordkeeping as a Parallel Citation Track

Failure to record heat-related cases on the 300 Log, failure to produce records within four business hours under 1904.40, and failure to report a heat-related hospitalization within 24 hours under 29 CFR 1904.39 each generate independent citations. These are separate from any underlying General Duty Clause finding on the heat hazard itself.

Under the Instance-by-Instance Citation Policy memo signed by Kimberly A. Stille and Scott C. Ketcham on April 17, 2024, recordkeeping violations can be stacked with serious or repeat heat citations as IBI items when deterrence factors apply — prior willful or repeat history, citations related to a fatality or catastrophe, or significant safety program deficiencies. A single inspection that identifies a heat hazard and a recordkeeping failure can generate multiple citations rather than one.

Penalty Exposure Under 2026 Ceilings

The civil penalty ceilings in effect during summer 2026 reflect the inflation adjustment that took effect January 15, 2025. Per OSHA's January 14, 2025 announcement, the ceilings are $16,550 per serious or other-than-serious violation, $165,514 per willful or repeated violation, and $16,550 per day for failure-to-abate violations. OSHA did not publish a separate 2026 inflation adjustment because the October 2025 CPI-U data needed for the statutory calculation was not released during the federal government shutdown that ran into late 2025. The 2025 ceilings remain in effect.

Recent Heat Enforcement Cases

The previous Heat NEP generated approximately 7,000 heat-related inspections from April 2022 through December 2024, resulting in roughly 60 General Duty Clause citations and the distribution of nearly 1,400 hazard alert letters. Section X of the current directive notes that federal OSHA averaged approximately 2,400 heat-related inspections and 50 heat-related fatality inspections per year between 2022 and 2025, and references BLS data identifying an average of 3,793 DART cases and 48 fatalities per year from environmental heat exposure during 2021–2024.

Cases from the prior NEP period illustrate the enforcement pattern. OSHA cited a Florida labor contractor in Okeechobee County in 2023 following a January 2023 farmworker fatality, alleging a serious General Duty Clause violation for heat hazard exposure. SJ&L General Contractor LLC in Alabama was cited at $16,131 — later reduced to $12,098 — after a worker died of heat illness on his third day on the job. USPS was cited at $15,625 for a serious General Duty Clause violation following the heat-related death of Dallas mail carrier Eugene Gates in June 2023.

Penalty amounts in these cases reflect the pre-2025 inflation ceilings. Citations issued under the current NEP face the higher 2025 limits, and Appendix J increases OSHA's likelihood of sustaining those citations at the Review Commission.

The Federal Heat Rule — Where It Stands

The proposed federal Heat Injury and Illness Prevention rule (RIN 1218-AD39) has been under development since 2021. As of June 2026, it remains stalled at the Proposed Rule stage with no scheduled Final Rule date.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published August 30, 2024 at 89 FR 70698. The public comment period closed January 14, 2025 with more than 43,000 comments. An informal public hearing ran from June 16 through July 2, 2025, followed by an extended post-hearing comment period that closed October 30, 2025. The Fall 2025 Unified Agenda listed the rule in Proposed Rule Stage with no projected dates for finalization, and practitioner analyses from major employment-law firms in April 2026 characterize the rule as stalled and unlikely to advance in the near term. H.R. 6213, introduced November 2025, would bar the Secretary of Labor from finalizing the rule or any substantially similar standard; the bill remains in committee.

The practical implication for small employers is straightforward: do not plan around the arrival of a federal heat standard in 2026. The Heat NEP and the General Duty Clause are the active enforcement tools for at least the next 12 to 24 months. The standalone post on how to prepare for the proposed federal heat standard covers what the rule would have required if finalized.

State-Plan State Heat Standards Already in Effect

In jurisdictions operating their own OSHA-approved state plans, employers face additional or more stringent heat requirements that operate alongside the federal NEP. California maintains both an outdoor heat illness prevention standard (T8 CCR § 3395) and an indoor heat standard (§ 3396, effective July 23, 2024), with the indoor rule triggered at 82°F and intensified controls at 87°F. Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Colorado, Maryland, and Nevada all have their own heat rules in force as of summer 2026, with triggering temperatures and required controls that vary by jurisdiction. Virginia, under SB 288/HB 1092 signed April 13, 2026, is in the process of adopting a heat illness standard by May 1, 2028.

For multi-state employers, each establishment is subject to the heat rules of its own location. The federal NEP is the floor in state-plan states — not the ceiling.

A Practical Playbook When OSHA Arrives

The sequence of decisions an employer makes in the first hour of a heat inspection has more impact on the eventual outcome than nearly any document in the binder.

1. Verify the CSHO's credentials at the door. Confirm name, region, and the basis of the inspection. Verifying credentials is appropriate; refusing entry without counsel is not, and may trigger a compulsory process.

2. Designate one management representative to attend the opening conference, the walkaround, and the closing conference under Section 8(e) of the OSH Act.

3. Identify employee representatives. A union steward where applicable; under the amended 29 CFR 1903.8 effective May 31, 2024, non-employee third-party representatives may also accompany in certain circumstances.

4. Produce records within four business hours. Have 300 Logs, 300A summaries, and 301 reports ready for the current year plus the three prior calendar years.

5. Take parallel notes and photographs throughout. Document the CSHO's path, the questions asked of employees, the measurements taken, and the conditions observed. Parallel documentation is the foundation of any post-inspection challenge.

6. Cooperate, but do not volunteer. Answer factual questions accurately. Do not speculate, agree to legal conclusions, or admit to abatement timelines on the spot.

7. Note the citation timeline. OSHA has six months from the inspection to issue citations under Section 9(c). The employer has 15 working days from receipt to contest or to request an informal conference, which routinely produces penalty reductions in the 15-to-50-percent range depending on violations and compliance history.

Pre-Inspection Readiness — What to Have Ready Now

For employers in targeted NAICS codes, the work that determines the outcome of an inspection happens before the CSHO arrives. The essentials: a current written heat illness prevention program covering the seven program elements OSHA evaluates in Appendix I (water, shade, rest, acclimatization, training, monitoring, emergency response); training records organized by employee with dates, topics, and language of instruction; acclimatization documentation showing graduated exposure schedules for new hires and returning workers; a site map showing designated shade or cool-down areas; an emergency response plan with site-specific GPS coordinates; a recent 300 Log self-audit flagging any case with heat etiology; a designated management representative trained on the inspection process; and a records access plan tested against the four-business-hour rule. Subscribing to NWS heat advisories for each establishment location is the operational signal that a heat priority day has arrived.

The companion piece on common OSHA recordkeeping mistakes covers the recordkeeping habits that catch employers during inspections triggered by any cause. The 300A annual summary review covered in the 300A guide is part of the same readiness posture.