Health & Safety Issues: Heat Stress

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The text from the brief version of the Heat Stress Fact Sheet is below. Both the brief and detailed versions of the fact sheet are available to download at the links above. Click here to read the detailed version online.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY ISSUES: HEAT STRESS

The hot summer weather has finally arrived. Our summer temperatures vary across the country, but in most areas, heatwaves and hot spells can really create a temporary heat-related hazard in our workplaces. This hazard can become so severe that it can become a matter of life and death. 

Here is brief primer on some of the key points to remember when dealing with this serious workplace hazard.

WHAT IS HEAT STRESS?

Heat stress is an environmental and occupational hazard, resulting from physical activity in hot or humid environments capturing a spectrum of heat-related illnesses, including heat stroke, which can lead to death.

Just like you can't let a car engine overheat or it shuts down, you don't want your body to get too hot. Working in the heat puts stress on our body's cooling system. High temperatures and high humidity, stress the body's ability to cool itself and heat illness can become a deadly concern.

WHAT AFFECTS HEAT STRESS?

There are four environmental factors that affect the amount of stress a worker faces in a hot work environment:

• temperature
• humidity

• radiant heat (such as from the sun or a furnace) and

• air velocity.

THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE AND HEAT STRESS

We do not have to wait for certainty before we take reasonable steps to reduce heat stress risk. We need to "feel safe" and if we do not feel safe we must take the necessary steps to create changes in the workplace to address the causes of health and safety insecurity. Your JH&SC should have heat stress on their agenda long before the heat arrives and employers are responsible to ensure a healthy and safe work environment exists.

In other words, we do not need to be certain that we are correct when we take action to protect ourselves when dealing with an occupational hazard such as heat stress.

ACCLIMITIZATION

Acclimatization is the result of beneficial physiological adaptations (such as increased sweating efficiency) that occur after gradual increased exposure to a hot environment. This process of building tolerance is called heat acclimatization. Not being used to working in the heat can be a major problem. Many workers who die from heat stroke are often in their first few days on the job or were working during a heat wave. If you haven't worked in hot weather for a week or more, your body needs time to adjust. You will need to take more breaks and not do too much strenuous work during your first weeks on the job.

FIRST AID

• 
  Treat a worker suffering from heat exhaustion by: Stopping activity

• Moving the person out of the heat and into a shady or air-conditioned place

• Laying the person down and elevating the legs and feet slightly

• Removing tight or heavy clothing
   

Having the person drink cool water or other non-alcoholic beverage without caffeine Cooling the worker with cold compresses or have the worker wash head, face, armpits, and neck with cold water

Seeking medical treatment

Call 911 or your local emergency number if the person's condition deteriorates, especially if the worker experiences:

• Fainting Agitation Confusion

• Seizures Inability to drink

• A core body temperature of 40 C (104 F) (heatstroke)

EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITIES

Employers have a legal duty to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of workers. This includes developing policies and procedures to protect workers in hot environments due to hot processes or hot weather (or both). Employers must provide training to workers so they understand what heat stress is, how it affects their health and safety, and how it can be prevented