[National Safety Month] 3 Ways to Avoid Heat-Related Illness on Your Job Sites
Heat-related illnesses are preventable, but still on the rise
Heat-related illness, injury, and death may seem like a blatant risk factor for jobs in agriculture, construction, or even manufacturing. Still, it affects workers year-round in different parts of the world. While farm and ag workers are 35 times more likely to die from heat-related illness than workers in other industries, it’s not limited to just that space. Workers in extreme heat conditions, including warehouses, food processing and restaurants, and even delivery and field service technicians, are all at risk for heat-related illnesses on job sites.
As this problem continues to grow amid global production increases and climate changes, it’s being more widely recognized as a preventable injury. In 2021, the United States president issued a new interagency effort to combat extreme heat threats, making sure to acknowledge not just outdoor workers, but also those working in warehouses, factories, and kitchens. With such a growing emphasis on protecting workers from heat exposure and illness, it’s a great time for your business to consider better ways to handle your business processes and to include heat exposure mitigation in your training.
Create a Heat Exposure Plan
For new and returning employees, especially, it’s important to create a plan to ease your workers back into the heat. With nearly 3 out of 4 heat-related fatalities happening within the first week of work, proper training has never been more important. This training should include not just proper heat protection for your employees, but also key ways to identify heat-related illnesses impacting other team members.
Prepare Accordingly
Start slow with heat exposure, beginning with 20% of the work day exposed to hot conditions, with an additional 20% each day to ease into an entire week of heat exposure. Be sure to check in with your employees frequently throughout the day to ensure they’re acclimating comfortably.
Dress for Success
A successful day in the heat means protecting yourself from sun damage while keeping your clothes cool, dry, and loose-fitting. For outdoor workers, gear up with hats and long sleeves when possible to prevent burns, while seeking shade for periodic breaks throughout the day.
Know the Signs of Heat Illness
Keep an eye out for these four key behaviors that can be indicators of a medical emergency: (1) abnormal thinking or behavior, (2) slurred speech, (3) seizures, and (4) loss of consciousness. Any of these behaviors mean that another team member should call emergency services immediately, and cool the worker right away as best they can with shade, ice, and cool water.
“Despite widespread under-reporting, 43 workers died from heat illness in 2019, and at least 2,410 others suffered serious injuries and illnesses.”
Consistent Communication Is Key
When it comes to managing safety expectations around extreme heat, few things matter as much as clear and consistent communication. Checking in with your employees throughout the day not only ensures that you can keep an eye on individual employee status, but it can also provide insight into break frequencies and water accessibility. Managing construction site safety, specifically, means needing an intense focus on facilitating communication. On many construction sites, the use of loud machinery can make it difficult to verbally check in with everyone. In these situations, you’ll need to prioritize a verbal check-in with your workers to confirm that they’re staying hydrated and that they’re not suffering from any impacts of heat stress or exhaustion.
Other outdoor work, such as delivery driving or agricultural work, can also mean more distance between your individual team members. Whenever possible, ensure that nobody is working solo so there’s always an eye on each employee for symptoms of heat exhaustion, and an accountability partner for taking shaded breaks and consuming enough water. For indoor workers in extreme heat conditions, while facilitating communication may be physically easier, it’s no less important. Verbal checks confirm that everyone is still feeling well, and that appropriate breaks at frequent intervals are being taken. Whenever possible, try to have a cool area available for employees to step away from the heat and hydrate.
“Our study estimates the total economic loss from heat in the United States to be at least $100 billion annually—a figure that will double by 2030 and quintuple by 2050.”
Rely on Technology to Streamline Processes
While it may not be intuitive, integrating technological solutions into your existing processes can make it even easier to keep track of your heat-related illness prevention plan. Whether this is digitizing your training processes to ensure an accurate record of everyone knowing the signs of heat exhaustion, or implementing digital sign-in sheets to track the number of workers in extreme heat areas, technology can support your efforts.
Try to rely on systems that you already have in place, and see if you can leverage those solutions to track more detail for you. If you already use digital forms to track your agriculture data, then you can use that same digital system to keep a running record of breaks and schedules for each employee. In a digital format, you’ll be able to confirm that everyone is taking their appropriate breaks and staying safe, while also being able to identify trends on how workers are feeling in the heat. When a heatwave comes through, you may be able to predict how much to increase break times or if you need to shorten the duration of your team in extreme conditions and manage your schedule accordingly.
There’s still a lot of ground to cover when it comes to mitigating and minimizing the impacts of extreme heat conditions for workers in all industries, but attention is now being focused in that direction. The National Safety Council has even devoted the entire third week of National Safety Month to the theme of heat-related illness, with a variety of tools and insights that your team can leverage to promote safety on your job sites. Unlike many other accidents and injuries, heat-related illness is entirely preventable, as long as your team is taking the right steps to identify and mitigate the risks.
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