Page 65 - OHS, June 2021

Appropriate knowledge and proper tools can help companies make summertime a safe and productive time.
are subject to their environments and productivity requirements, which means the body’s cooling process via sweating can be disrupted. Knowing how to manage that disruption will protect workers and maintain productivity.
Once a worker starts sweating on the job site in the heat, you need to be able to monitor him/her and track his or her vitals. Heart rate needs to increase during sweating in order to pump blood fast enough to get it to the skin to cool off the body. Muscles also require blood to get oxygen and other nutrients for proper function during work. This means the cardiovascular system is strained when working in the heat and getting blood everywhere it is needed. If a worker is sweating and maintaining a steady workload, eventually the fluid loss from sweating is going to be felt. The sweat loss will result in lower blood volume and pressure. In order to maintain physical activity for work and continue sweating to keep the body cool, the heart once again needs to beat faster. You can begin to see how this cycle can cascade into a state of peril if fluids are not replenished and rest from work is not taken.
The cardiovascular system is not the only vital function being disrupted during work in the heat. The nervous system is being impacted as well, decreasing a worker’s ability to complete his/ her tasks as well as affecting cognitive ability. Similar to the cardiovascular system having to work harder in the heat, the nervous system also needs to work harder to accomplish the same muscle movement it did when it wasn’t hot. This makes work- related tasks harder and cognitive decision-making more difficult. To summarize, a worker experiencing heat stress is forcing his/ her heart to work harder while the muscles are challenged to continue work and cognitive functions are dropping, making quick decisions dangerous.
Employing Heat Safety Strategies
Worker heat stress is a serious and complex problem. Heat safety strategies, while well intentioned, do not help every worker. Each individual worker experiences heat stress differently, so universal strategies are limited in benefitting everyone. Many factors contribute an individual’s response to one-size-fits-all heat-reduction techniques. Those factors include: age older than 35, psoriasis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, prescription drugs for a variety of illnesses, over- the-counter drugs, nicotine, alcohol use and gender. Including all of these factors in heat protection strategies is a logistical challenge.
Companies are getting smarter, however, as they learn more about heat-related injuries and prevention techniques. Employing smart PPE to monitor their employees’ status throughout the work day is one method being adopted, allowing supervisors and safety
managers to detect individual worker’s needs as they happen, without having to be right next to their team members, asking them how they feel and if they need a break and observing their behaviors.
With better tools to monitor their teams, heat stress and safety can more easily be integrated into the daily activities of construction, transportation, mining, utilities, manufacturing, and many other industries that must manage under hot and humid working conditions. When combined with consistent education for both employees and supervisors, protecting workers from heat stress becomes a more effective part of the job. Smart PPE allows everyone to know when an individual needs to break, when to drink and how much to drink, when to stop working and rest in the shade.
Similar to smart, real-time information about individual workers and their heat stress, unique information about the jobsite climate and microclimate, which informs PPE requirements, is available through smart PPE. It may be 55 degrees Fahrenheit inside a mine, but if the worker has to put on intense PPE that traps heat and moisture, the microclimate is similar to a hot and humid summer day. If you only have a universal heat safety protocol, that employee may not get the attention he/she needs at the right time—when a heat injury is about to happen. The worker will keep pushing his/herself to the limit, resulting in serious health and safety outcomes.
There are several things companies can do to get their teams prepared for the hot summer season, including being educated on the symptoms of heat exhaustion and exertional heat stress, work/rest schedules, hydration practices and smart PPE. Workers should also understand the signs of heat stress and know where water stations and shade areas are located. These steps can prevent heat-related incidents and, at least, make them less severe.
In the meantime, off the job site, there has been legislation put forward in congress that would require OSHA to set federal standards for working in the heat. Only a handful of states currently have standards that address hot working environments. The bill has died twice in previous congresses and OSHA will have up to two years after it has passed to set the standards. This means there may be a long waiting period before standards can be applied to your jobsites. Regardless of legislative outcomes and timing, safety leaders and workers both need to pay attention to health and safety in hot environments. Human lives still depend on appropriate protocols, more education and continued advancements in heat health.
Michael Prewitt is the Operations & Deployment Manager for Kenzen, the smart PPE innovator focused on physiological monitoring and the prevention of heat injury and death among workers. Prewitt onboards and manages new customers on Kenzen’s real-time heat monitoring system, used by companies to keep workers safe from heat-related injuries on the job while maintaining productivity. He has worked in a variety of life science roles.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/202013
2. https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/case/cd_r63_2018.htm 3. https://www.osha.gov/safetypays/estimatorl
www.ohsonline.com
JUNE 2021 | Occupational Health & Safety 61