Page 30 - OHS, April 2022

8 STEPS TO HELP PREVENT HEAT ILLNESS ON THE JOB
1. HEAT HYGIENE
2. HYDRATION
3. HEAT ACCLIMATIZATION
4. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
5. PHYSIOLOGICAL MONITORING
6. BODY COOLING STATIONS
7. EMERGENCY PREPARATIONS
8. COOLING PPE
Educate and inform your team about measures to prevent and recognize heat illness including day-to-day or even hour-to-hour communications and monitoring.
Provide icy-cold water and/or electrolyte replacing beverages in close proximity to every worker.
Ease new workers or workers returning from an extended absence into hot conditions gradually, increasing exposure slowly over a 5-to-7-day period.
Use a Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) monitor to measure the humidity, temperature, wind, and sun on your jobsite to find which areas need extra heat safety measures.
Consider wearable monitors that can alert workers of risk factors like elevated skin temperature or heart rate that may indicate a risk of heat illness.
Provide cool areas for resting at break and mealtimes. These should include icy-cold drinks and coolers full of ice and towels for hydration and body cooling inside and out.
Teach the principle of Cool First, Transport Second in a
heat illness emergency including cold water immersion or application of ice and cold towels to cool the victim to a safe temperature before transportation to the hospital by EMTs.
Provide body cooling PPE like Magid® Cool Powered by Mission® for workers to bring onto the jobsite that cool with any temperature of water and can be reactivated again and again for anytime relief.