Ohio Heat-Related Work Injuries and Workers’ Compensation

It’s not just you. This summer has been hot. And if the weather keeps trending this way, it may be getting even hotter, putting more people in Ohio at risk of heat-related work injuries.

June 2025 was one of the hottest Junes ever recorded in Columbus, with seven days of 90 degrees or higher. July 2025 was also hot: the temperature exceeded 90 degrees nine times. Last year was the fourth-hottest July in Columbus history, and there were 35 days where temperatures reached 90 or above. During this June’s heat wave, hundreds of people were treated at hospitals in Columbus for heat.

This isn’t just a bunch of hot air about “climate change.” The fact is that heat-related deaths increased 117% nationwide from 1999 to 2023, and heat stress is now the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States.

Ohio, like the rest of the country, is experiencing rising temperatures and more frequent and intense heat waves that put many types of workers at greater risks of illnesses like heat stroke and heat exhaustion.

You don’t have to prove that the planet is warming, or work in a particularly heat-exposed industry like construction, agriculture, or delivery, to receive workers’ compensation for a heat injury or illness. But you do have to show your heat-related harm stems from your employment—and that can be tricky.

What is Considered a Heat-Related Injury or Illness?

The State of Ohio issued a press release in June, amid a particularly sweltering period, warning about heat exhaustion and heat stroke—two of the most serious heat-related illnesses—and how they can affect more vulnerable populations, such as those who work outdoors.

• Heat exhaustion happens when the body loses too much water and salt through sweating. Symptoms may include dizziness, nausea, headache, fatigue, and muscle cramps. If untreated, it can progress to heat stroke.
• Heat stroke is a medical emergency. It occurs when the body can no longer regulate its temperature, leading to confusion, loss of consciousness, seizures, or even death.

Other heat-related conditions include dehydration, heat cramps, heat syncope (fainting), rhabdomyolysis, and aggravation of underlying health conditions such as asthma, kidney disease, or heart disease triggered by high temperatures.

Occupational injuries can be considered heat-related if they result from exposure to high temperatures. For example, extreme heat could cause you to become dizzy, fall, and hit your head or suffer some other injury.

Ohio law doesn’t have special rules for heat-related injuries and illnesses in its workers’ compensation statutes. They’re treated like any other workplace injury or occupational disease, which means they must arise out of employment and occur in the course of employment.

OSHA doesn’t have a specific heat standard either, although it recently released a proposed rule. Heat-related conditions that are likely to cause death or serious bodily harm are currently covered by OSHA’s General Duty Clause, which requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards, including heat-related hazards, according to the agency.

Because workers’ compensation is a no-fault system, you don’t have to prove that your employer did anything “wrong” to qualify for benefits. In other words, it’s not necessary to show that they violated a specific state or federal law.

There’s no specific temperature or heat index that applies in Ohio and automatically triggers certain protection requirements. A handful of states have implemented hazardous heat standards, but not Ohio.

Ohio courts generally apply the “increased risk” doctrine when evaluating claims for heat-related work injuries. This requires an injured worker to demonstrate that their job or work conditions exposed them to a greater risk of heat-related injury than that faced by the general public.

To qualify for a heat-related health issue covered by workers’ comp, you need to establish that something specific about your employment activity or environment contributed to an elevated risk of heat-related illness, whether it’s heat exhaustion, heat stroke, or another heat-related health complication.

Who is Most at Risk for Ohio Heat-Related Work Injuries and Illnesses?

Heat is one of the top five causes of workplace injuries and deaths. OSHA cites Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that, from 2011 to 2020, there were nearly 34,000 work-related heat injuries and illnesses that resulted in days away from work, while from 1992 to 2021, an average of 33 workers per year died from exposure to heat.

These numbers are likely undercounted, OSHA admits, because heat is not always recognized as a contributing factor to illness or injury and is sometimes deemed unrelated to work.

Certain jobs place workers at higher risk for hazardous heat exposure than others, although OSHA stresses that workers in both indoor and outdoor occupations, across a variety of sectors, are exposed to heat that threatens their health. For example, from 2018 to 2021, OSHA documented 789 heat-related hospitalizations and 54 heat-related fatalities across hundreds of industries.

Hospitalizations occurred most often among postal and delivery service, landscaping, and construction workers. From 1992 to 2016, construction workers accounted for more than one-third of occupational heat-related deaths.

Outdoor industries such as agriculture, fishing, hunting, forestry, waste management, and oil and gas place workers at heightened heat-related health risks as well. So do outdoor seasonal jobs, such as event staff working at festivals, concerts, or sporting events.

But you don’t have to work outside to receive workers’ compensation for Ohio heat-related work injuries and illnesses. Heat also threatens those who work in hot indoor settings—especially places without cooling—like commercial kitchens, warehouses, laundries, foundries, and factories.

Why Heat-Related Workers’ Compensation Claims Can Be Tricky

It doesn’t matter what industry you work in, or what the mercury reads, inside or outside. Your job may place you at higher risk of heat-related injury or illness, but you don’t need to show that to qualify for workers’ compensation. What you do need to prove, though, is a direct connection between your injury/illness and work duties. That can be tough when heat is a factor, because symptoms are not always consistent and an incident may not get reported or result in medical treatment.

Even when a worker clearly suffers from heat exhaustion or heat stroke, successfully filing a workers’ compensation claim in Ohio isn’t always straightforward. Common challenges include:

• Causation questions. Employers or insurers may argue that heat-related illnesses are a natural phenomenon and that anyone can experience them (i.e., they’re not inherently work-related).
• Preexisting conditions. If a worker has underlying health issues (like heart disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure), insurers may try to blame those rather than workplace conditions. However, if heat aggravates a preexisting condition, it could be a compensable claim.
• Proof of workplace exposure. A worker may need to show that the heat at their workplace was significantly greater than what the general public experienced. For example, was the factory floor 20 degrees hotter than the outside temperature? Was the kitchen poorly ventilated? A roofer working in 95° without shade is at a higher risk than someone walking to their car in the same weather.
• Documentation gaps. If the illness wasn’t immediately reported, or if medical records don’t clearly link the episode to workplace heat, a claim can be harder to prove.

How to Strengthen a Claim

Despite workers’ compensation being a “no-fault” system, legitimate claims are sometimes denied, for a variety of reasons. Workers can improve their chances of a successful claim by:

• Reporting promptly. Notify a supervisor as soon as symptoms occur and file an incident report.
• Seeking immediate medical care. Emergency room or urgent care records can document both the diagnosis and the environmental cause.
• Gathering evidence. Photographs of work conditions, coworker statements, or temperature readings can help prove exposure.
• Consulting an experienced workers’ compensation attorney. Legal guidance can be critical to showing that heat exposure at work was the determining factor in the injury/illness.

Workers’ compensation is your right—but it’s a right that you might have to fight for when an employer or their insurance company is trying to throw cold water on your claim.

Don’t let them make excuses about the weather “just being a little hot” or say that “everyone’s feeling it.” If they do, turn up the heat on them and contact Graham Law.