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UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Highlighting the dangers of this silent workplace hazard is an important first step in educating workers and employers on how to prevent and recognize when heat is affecting workers’ health and safety. Since heat illness can be a medical emergency, planning and preparing for heat illness is essential to increase the chances of a positive outcome. OSHA is sponsoring a Beat the Heat Contest to raise awareness of the dangers and hazards of heat exposure in both indoor and outdoor workplaces.

OSHA's Beat the Heat Contest has four main goals:

1. Educate stakeholders, especially workers and employers, about heat hazards in the workplace.
2. Prevent heat illness by creating an awareness campaign that increases the public's knowledge about this issue.
3. Highlight the dangers of heat; and
4. Motivate employers and workers to take action to prevent heat illness.

Contest Description and Rules

This is a competition for OSHA stakeholders to identify the most innovative and effective communication strategies and methods to increase awareness among employers and employees about the risks of hazardous heat and to encourage protective measures when working in the heat. To participate, stakeholders will create an awareness tool to increase worker and employer knowledge about hazardous heat in the workplace.

Contest submissions must:

• Promote and protect worker safety and health.
• Inform workers and employers about the hazards of heat in the workplace (indoor and/or outdoor).
• Be original creations, not copied from OSHA.gov or any other source, and under the submitter’s ownership and control.
• Be in an easily accessible format, e.g., webpage, URL, JPEG, PDF, MP3, PNG, etc.
• Acknowledge contest rules and provide contact information.
• Be consistent with current scientific research and OSHA guidelines.
• Be available for free public access.

The entries submitted for this Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) Beat the Heat Contest do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the USDOL, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government or OSHA.

OSHA is open to awareness tools in many forms. Below are examples for submission:

Ineligibility

OSHA reserves the right to disqualify any submission by an entity with a history of OSHA violations. These submissions will not be judged, and the submitter will not be notified of their ineligibility.

• Submissions from Tik Tok will not be accepted.
• Reference to specific products or advertisements or links to advertisements are prohibited for this contest.

The contest opens on April 19, 2023. The contest will close on June 9, 2023.

On May 16, there was an informational webinar that outlined the contest and allowed participants to ask questions. View the webinar recording.

Additional dates relevant to contest deadlines and opportunities will be posted as they are available!

Eligibility: Who can participate?

OSHA is encouraging submissions from any industry, such as, general industry, construction, agriculture, retail, warehousing, hospitality, etc. As such, a contest participant (“Participant”) includes private citizens, individual businesses, associations, trade groups, worker centers, unions, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, research groups, among others. Submissions should focus on increasing worker/employer awareness about preventing and responding to heat hazards in the workplace.

In the case of a Participant that is a private entity, the entity shall be incorporated/registered in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. In the case of a Participant that is an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, the individual shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.

Ineligibility: Who cannot participate?

The following submissions are ineligible for the contest, will not be judged, and persons making such submission will not be notified of their ineligibility:

• The contest is not available for participation by any Federal entity or Federal employee acting within the scope of their employment.
• OSHA reserves the right to disqualify any submission by an entity with a history of OSHA violations.
• Submissions from Tik Tok will not be accepted.
• Reference to specific products or advertisements or links to advertisements are prohibited for this contest.

If you have questions about your eligibility to participate, please email the OSHA heat campaign at: heatcampaign@dol.gov.

Submissions will be judged by a panel of OSHA and non-OSHA, federal employee judges with expertise in relevant subject matter areas. The judges will evaluate, score, and rank submissions based on the criteria listed below.

How well does the submission:

• Identify heat as a risk to workers.
• Provide an informative message.
• Utilize a creative communication method.
• Engage with employers, workers, and other stakeholders to work together and form effective communications about the risks of hazardous heat exposure in the workplace.
• Apply effective message and communication strategies that are accessible and easily understood for workers, employers, and other stakeholders.
• Consider geographic locations and industry sectors.

Award Categories

Winners will be chosen based on the following categories:

• Most Innovative
• Most Creative
• Strongest Message
• Best Non-English Submission
• Highlighting Indoor Heat Hazards
• Highlighting Young Workers

Prizes

• All eligible submissions will receive a Letter of Appreciation from the Assistant Secretary of Labor
• Winners will receive a Beat the Heat Challenge Coin
• Winners will receive a Congratulatory Certificate from OSHA
• Winners will be publicized in OSHA publications, such as Quick Takes and the Heat Source Newsletter

To participate, enter the submission on this webform located here. Submissions can also be emailed to heatcampaign@dol.gov. The deadline to submit is June 9th. The winners will be announced by mid-July.

Intellectual Property

• Winning submissions will be posted on OSHA's website and announced in Summer 2023.
• Submissions and winners' names may be used by OSHA (e.g., on OSHA social media accounts, webpages and at events) in connection with this contest and the production, distribution, promotion, broadcast at public meetings/conferences, and online posting thereof.
• Each submission must comply with federal copyright and trademark law. All of the content in a submission must be the original work of the submitter. The Participant warrants and represents that they are the sole owner of the materials (ex. videos, images, communication campaign materials) submitted for this contest and/or that they have the legal right to share the submitted work with OSHA and grants OSHA and the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) non-exclusive, unlimited, irrevocable, world-wide, and royalty-free rights to use their submission for Government uses and purposes. In addition, the Participant warrants and represents that they are the sole owner of any trademark incorporated or included with their submitted work. As such, the Participant grants OSHA and USDOL a non-exclusive, unlimited, irrevocable, world-wide, and royalty-free license to use such trademark/s for Government uses and purposes.

Written Consent from Personal Identifiable Information

For any submission that contains the name, written statement, and/or photographic, videotaped, and/or digitally recorded image of any identifiable person, the Participant represents and warrants that they have obtained the written permission of that person to use their name, written statement, and or recorded image for the purpose of this contest.

Participants should seek legal guidance if they have questions about using copyrighted, trademarked, or personal identifiable materials in contest submissions.

Assumption of Risk, Liability, Indemnity

The Participant agrees to assume any and all risks and waive claims against OSHA, USDOL, the Federal Government and its related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from their participation in a prize competition, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise.

To the extent permissible under federal law, Participant shall indemnify, defend, and hold OSHA, USDOL, the Federal Government, and its agents harmless from and against any and all suits, claims, liabilities, demands, costs, expenses, or damages arising out of submitter's use of the works as provided herein or arising out of the breach of warranty or agreement made by submitter herein.

Non-Endorsement

OSHA and OSHA officials do not endorse any product, service, or enterprise that may appear in submission materials. Furthermore, by recognizing winning submissions, OSHA is not endorsing any products, services, or enterprises that may appear in those submissions.

OSHA has existing resources on hazardous heat at osha.gov/heat

If you have any questions about the contest, please contact heatcampaign@dol.gov