Supervisors and safety staff running crews in Oregon — agriculture, construction, forestry, and any other work where the exposure is outdoors or in an unconditioned indoor space.
Oregon OSHA adopted its permanent heat rule (OAR 437-002-1081) after the 2021 heat dome, alongside a wildfire-smoke rule. Both are enforceable, and both key off measurable thresholds rather than a general duty to assess.
Which heat rule applies to this crew, today? In Oregon the state's own standards are the enforceable floor — they are what an inspector cites. Above them sit the federal enforcement posture and the technical standards that contracts and site safety plans commonly adopt.
Declare the worksite as Oregon in the calculator and the composite narrows to exactly this set: a rule binds only where it governs, so Oregon's rules bind here and another state's do not. Rules from elsewhere are still evaluated and shown, marked advisory.
Oregon’s wildfire-smoke rule is PM2.5-canonical: its dividers are written in µg/m³, not AQI, which matters because the EPA revised its AQI breakpoints in 2024 and the concentration is therefore the stable denominator. Voluntary respirator use engages at 35.5 µg/m³, mandatory filtering facepieces at 200.9 µg/m³, and a full respiratory protection programme at 500.4 µg/m³.
Legal status below is the registry's own legalStatus field for each rule. A "mandatory regulation" is enforceable law in its jurisdiction; everything else is guidance, a technical standard, or a proposal, and binds you only if your contract, your client, or your own programme adopts it.
Derived from the registry: every standard declaring US-OR. Wildfire smoke, where the state has a rule, is listed separately below — it is a different hazard axis and never enters the work/rest composite.
| Rule | Authority | Legal status | What it sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon OSHA Heat Illness Prevention Standard (AO 3-2022) | Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) | Mandatory regulation | Work/rest limits |
These apply, or are cited, in Oregon as anywhere else in the US. Full national picture: United States country page.
| Rule | Authority | Legal status | What it sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| OSHA Heat National Emphasis Program (CPL 03-00-024, April 2026) | US OSHA, Directorate of Enforcement Programs | Guidance — voluntary | Alert levels |
| OSHA Federal Heat Rule NPRM (Proposed) | US OSHA | Proposed rule — not yet enforceable | Control measures |
| NIOSH 2016-106 Table 6-2 | NIOSH | Guidance — voluntary | Work/rest limits |
| NIOSH REL/RAL Logarithmic Curve | NIOSH | Guidance — voluntary | Screening thresholds |
| ACGIH TLV / Action Limit | ACGIH | Technical standard — not law unless adopted or incorporated | Work/rest limits |
| La Isla Network-informed RSH-s Default Protocol | La Isla Network / Adelante Initiative | Industry guidance — voluntary | Work/rest limits |
Wildfire smoke is a separate hazard axis from heat. It is tracked as its own smoke_overlay rule type and is never folded into the work/rest composite above — full respirator thresholds, including the EPA 2024 PM2.5 breakpoints, are on the wildfire smoke guidance page.
| Rule | Authority | Legal status | What it sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon OSHA Protection from Wildfire Smoke (OAR 437-002-1081) | Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) | Mandatory regulation | Wildfire smoke thresholds |
A nursery crew in the Willamette Valley during a July heat event: 32°C air at 55% relative humidity (a heat index of about 96°F, which is Oregon’s Tier 2 band), a site WBGT of 29°C, moderate work, and new seasonal hires — so the unacclimatized case is the one to plan against. Oregon’s rule reads heat index; the calculator derives it from air temperature and humidity when no heat-index reading is supplied, and says so.
Inputs: air temperature 32°C · 55% relative humidity · WBGT 29°C · moderate work (300 W) · unacclimatized worker · worksite declared in US-OR
| Rule | What it returns at these inputs |
|---|---|
| Oregon OSHA Heat Illness Prevention Standard (AO 3-2022) | 40 / 20 min work/rest per hr |
| La Isla Network-informed RSH-s Default Protocol | 30 / 30 min work/rest per hr |
| ACGIH TLV / Action Limit | 15 / 45 min work/rest per hr |
| NIOSH REL/RAL Logarithmic Curve | 25°C limit — exceeded |
Answer for this shift: 15 / 45 min work/rest per hr (most protective)
Every value above is computed at build time by the same engine the live calculator runs — the single most protective applicable result, never an average across standards. Change any input and the answer changes, which is what the calculator is for.
Screening-level guidance. This tool provides screening-level heat guidance for planning. It is a decision-support instrument, not a sole compliance authority or a medical prescription. Verify against the governing standard for your jurisdiction and consult a qualified professional for individual medical decisions.