April 27, 2026
McGuireWoods partner Courtney Malveaux was featured in an April 22, 2026, Business Insurance article examining the growing patchwork of state-level workplace heat-illness prevention regulations and the compliance challenges they pose for employers nationwide.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger recently signed legislation directing the state’s Safety and Health Codes Board to develop regulations requiring employers to implement heat-illness prevention protocols — including access to water, rest breaks, training and emergency response procedures — for indoor and outdoor workers. Virginia joined a small but expanding group of states adopting or developing heat standards, with nine states currently having regulations in place and legislators in eight additional states working to develop plans.
“There was an initial push years ago (in Virginia), but now that OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has made a push for a standard and more states have acted, the momentum is clearly there,” Malveaux told Business Insurance.
Malveaux also addressed the increased enforcement activity by OSHA, noting that employers must be prepared to demonstrate compliance through thorough documentation. “In many cases, employers do have measures in place, but OSHA is asking them to document it,” Malveaux said. “That can include policies, training records or even proof of providing water or cooling resources.”
The article noted that OSHA renewed its heat enforcement initiative on April 10, 2026, updating inspection targeting and continuing to prioritize cases involving complaints, hospitalizations and fatalities. But a permanent federal heat standard, first proposed in 2024, has not been finalized, leaving employers — particularly those with multistate operations — to navigate a complex and evolving regulatory landscape.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.