News & information

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have collaborated to update OSHA’s original Heat Safety Tool app for smartphones.

The updated app, available for both Android and iPhone, provides a clearer user interface while still providing the same information to help keep employees safe when working outdoors in hot weather.

Extreme heat causes more deaths than any other weather-related hazard; each year more than 65,000 people seek medical treatment for extreme heat exposure.

Letter carriers who are exposed to hot and humid conditions can use the app to check the heat index and learn about the relevant protective measures. The app displays the heat index in the user’s location and shows the current risk level. 

Click here to get your current heat index from The Weather Channel—and bookmark the page for future reference.

The app also forecasts the hourly heat index throughout the entire workday, giving employers information they can use to adjust the work environment as needed to protect workers. It provides tips for recognizing the signs of heat-related illness and for rendering first aid, plus links to more information and to NIOSH/OSHA contact information.

Note: If you have the original OSHA app on your phone, it will no longer function after Sept. 30.

To download the updated app and get more information on OSHA’s efforts to help protect employees from the heat, visit OSHA’s heat campaign web page.

UPDATE: Visit the NIOSH page in support of the app to learn more about it and to get answers to frequently asked questions, such as “What is a heat index?”, “When should I use the heat index?”, and “Is monitoring the heat index enough to keep workers safe?”