4 Common Summer Hazards Problems and 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
• Aug 01, 2024

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 common 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 moisture 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 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 easing 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 significant 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. 

• Make sure your heat safety training includes information on medications or health conditions that might make workers more vulnerable. While you may not be able to ask people what medications they’re taking, many people don’t realize that even medications for conditions as common as allergies or high blood pressure can make them more vulnerable to heat illness, so it’s important to get this on their radar.

• Hang heat safety reminder posters in your facility, or in trailers for remote work. Put a urine-color hydration scale in every washroom so everyone knows healthy output from unhealthy.

• Provide body cooling PPE. While this has been an option for some time, recent years have seen significant improvements in cooling longevity, comfort and garment options. Tried-and-true body cooling PPE like cooling vests with ice packs are an excellent option, but they require changing out ice packs as often as every half hour to maximize their effectiveness. So it makes sense to supplement them with additional cooling garments. 

More portable options in HydroActive technology activate in less than 60 seconds with any temperature of water and cool down to as low as 30 degrees below average body temperature. The beauty of these garments is their versatility and effectiveness. They stay cool for as long as two hours and can be activated again and again throughout the day with any source of water. They also come in everything from hats to t-shirts, skull caps for under hard hats, neck gaiters and towels, and even garments that are ASTM F1506, NFPA 70E-compliant for jobs that involve sparks or flames. This allows workers to use them as whole-body cooling drapes during breaks, or to apply them to the head, neck, or any other body part while on the job. (Editors’ note: Some Magid products incorporate HydroActive technology within their design.)

Overspending

The Problem: 

The joke about writing checks your body can’t cash is an apt metaphor for what happens on hot jobsites all over the world. People trying to get the job done work hard enough to raise their body temperature to dangerous levels while using up vital body hydration that they don’t replace often or adequately enough to stay safe. And while hydration is crucial, don’t fall for the common misconception that hydrated bodies can’t suffer heat illness. Even a well-hydrated person can suffer heat illness up to and including heat stroke and even death if their body temperature rises high enough from outside conditions or overwork. To help solve the overspending problem, be sure to give workers ample time and resources to make deposits and not just withdrawals.

Solutions: 

• Increase breaks as heat rises, provide shade whenever possible on the job, make cool water and electrolyte-replacing beverages available nearby throughout the workday.

• Create adequate body cooling stations for breaks and mealtimes to give workers a place to escape the heat and lower their body temperature. In indoor facilities, you might create a station in air-conditioned lunchrooms or break areas. In remote locations, air-conditioned trailers or shaded areas with places to sit or even lie down can work. In either case, a body cooling station should include plenty of cool beverages, cooling towels, fans, and coolers full of ice and cold towels for body draping. Many safety managers also include tasty items like pickles that serve the dual purpose of providing electrolytes and a refreshing cool snack. Workers in more remote locations can also benefit from having an “ice cream man,” a worker who drives around to work teams providing frozen electrolyte popsicles throughout the day.

Inadequate Emergency Preparedness

The Problem: 

Many people don’t understand the mechanics of heat illness and may think they know what to do in an emergency, but taking the wrong steps or waiting too long to act can cause serious damage.

Solutions: 

As always, training and education are key, but in this case, drills and reminders become even more important. 

Proper preparation may include posted reminders throughout your jobsite, formal training with quizzes and even hands-on emergency drills that include what symptoms a worker might exhibit from a heat stroke. Be sure the drill includes assigning someone to pretend to call EMS, and the full team working together to implement emergency procedures, whether those take place in a facility with a full-body immersion tub, or in the field with a makeshift tarp using the tarp assisted cooling oscillation (TACO) method. Be certain that everyone understands the importance of cooling the victim immediately before transporting them to the hospital and that they can give the victim the greatest chance to survive without major complications by cooling them down within 30 minutes. 

With so many contradictory laws and regulations in different states and counties, it’s more important than ever for safety managers and company executives to stay educated on the latest and most accurate information to guide their own policies. Making the commitment to a thorough and comprehensive heat safety program can help to ensure that the company keeps these 100 percent preventable accidents at zero.

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2024 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.