Page 60 - OHS, July/August 2024

SUMMER HAZARDS
4 Common Summer Hazards:
Problems & Solutions
Implementing effective heat safety programs and protocols is crucial to protect workers from the increasing risks of summer heat hazards.
BY M.B. SUTHERLAND
Summer has always been a risky time for workers in the heat, but with the season getting hotter and longer each year, the risk is greater and the stakes are higher. Is your heat safety program doing all it can to avoid the most com- mon and deadly heat hazards?
Humidity and Variable Temperatures
The Problem:
Workers not only feel worse when it’s humid as well as hot, but they’re at higher risk of heat illness. That’s because humidity can disrupt the cooling effect of sweating by making it harder for mois- ture to evaporate off the skin. Your local weather report or phone app can give you a general idea of how hot it’s going to be in your area and what the “real feel” temperature will be, based on factors such as humidity, but it can’t tell you what the specific conditions will be in different areas of your jobsite.
Solutions:
■ Every jobsite and facility should have at least one wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) monitor. This handy, portable device measures temperature, wind speed, humidity and sun exposure in any given area. This is important because one work area may differ significantly from another due to direct sunlight, shade, machinery that throws off heat, confined spaces and other factors.
■ As the day warms, be sure you’re remeasuring all areas so that you know if conditions require a change in break schedule or
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extra hydration and body cooling. Create a specific plan with new heat mitigation measures that kick in as temperatures rise.
Unprepared Bodies
The Problem:
Just as areas of your site may differ in temperature, individual worker’s bodies will differ too. No two workers will react to the heat the same or have the exact same threshold of illness, and many of them arrive for work unprepared for the heat.
Solutions:
■ An incredibly important, and too often overlooked, method of preparing workers for the heat is heat acclimatization. Over 70 percent of deaths in the heat happen on an employee’s first week on the job. It’s crucial to help people prepare their bodies by eas- ing them into working in the heat. That means starting them by working just one to two hours and slowly increasing work time in the heat over subsequent days. This process “teaches” their body to sweat more and can lower their heart rate when they’re hot. Remember that acclimatization is not permanent and needs to be repeated when a worker has been away from the job for any signifi- cant amount of time, even just a vacation, or when temperatures spike higher than people have been experiencing.
■ Prepare your workers with heat safety training classes before they step foot on the jobsite, and use your daily toolbox talks to make everyone aware of the heat hazards for the day.
58 Occupational Health & Safety | JULY/AUGUST 2024
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