Heat rules in Colorado: the agricultural heat rule and federal OSHA for everyone else
What the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment's Agricultural Labor Conditions Rules say about heat at 80 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and what OSHA says about who enforces workplace safety in Colorado.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It restates Rule 3 of the Colorado Agricultural Labor Conditions Rules (7 CCR 1103-15, adopted January 31, 2022, effective May 1, 2022) and two OSHA pages, as read on October 9, 2026. The comparison of every place is on the heat rules overview.
Who enforces what in Colorado
OSHA's State Plans page says Colorado is not an OSHA-approved State Plan and is under federal OSHA jurisdiction, which covers most private sector workers in the state. State and local government workers are not covered by federal OSHA. OSHA's page on heat standards in specific states lists Colorado with one entry only: the full text of the Agricultural Labor Conditions Rules for heat. Unlike California, Oregon and Washington, that page names no Colorado heat rule for other industries. The federal heat rulemaking, which OSHA proposed on August 30, 2024 and held a hearing on June 16 through July 2, 2025, is on the United States page.
What the Colorado rule covers
The rules are issued by the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics to carry out the Agricultural Labor Rights and Responsibilities Act. They define an employee as an agricultural employee, using the definitions from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act section 203(f) and the Internal Revenue Code section 3121(g), and an employer as an agricultural employer. Rule 3 applies on days when the temperature at a worksite for agricultural work is, or is forecast to be, at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit. It does not apply to employees working no more than fifteen minutes in any sixty-minute period in those conditions, or to a workday when employees finish before the forecast threshold is reached.
| Rule 3 topic | What the rule says |
|---|---|
| Water (3.2) | At least 32 ounces per hour per employee, kept 60 degrees or cooler, located no further than 0.25 miles from the worksite for employees on foot |
| Shade (3.3) | Adequate shade as close as practicable to the worksite. It does not qualify if a source adds heat (exhaust, running machinery, a vehicle without air conditioning), or if it is too small for employees to sit fully shaded without touching one another |
| Increased risk conditions (3.4) | A forecast or measured temperature of at least 95 degrees, an air quality advisory or Action Day, a shift over 12 hours, required vapor barrier clothing or covering personal protective equipment, or an employee's first four workdays. Then no more than two hours of work before at least 10 minutes of rest |
| Safety procedures (3.5) | Communication with a supervisor or emergency services, monitoring by a designated observer, a buddy system or regular contact, a response to signs of heat illness, a person designated to call emergency medical services, and permitted cool-down rest in shade |
| Training (3.6) | For all employees, by April 20 each year and on hiring, with language access for employees not fluent in English |
Other points the rule words
Where an employer cannot do what a Rule 3 requirement asks, for example because it would make employees less safe, the rule says to comply as far as possible and use equivalent protective measures, recorded in writing. For outdoor worksites the employer relies on a forecast high no earlier than noon the previous day. For employer-provided housing, once a worksite temperature of 95 degrees is reasonably expected, the rule requires fans sufficient to circulate air in all sleeping quarters. Preventative cool-down rest can count as a break already required, and an employee on cool-down rest is not sent back to work in less than 10 minutes after reaching the shade.
Sources
- Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Agricultural Labor Conditions Rules, 7 CCR 1103-15, effective May 1, 2022, read October 9, 2026
- OSHA, Heat standards in specific states, read October 9, 2026
- OSHA, State Plans, read October 9, 2026
- OSHA, Heat injury and illness prevention rulemaking, read October 9, 2026