How to Prevent Workplace Heat Stress
Heat stress in the workplace is a serious issue and can be more common than you think. Most people associate workplace heat stress with specific career paths, such as a fireman, steel worker, landscaper (in summer months), or any number of construction trades. But, heat stress can actually affect a much broader range of professions, even some you might not suspect.
NASCAR drivers, for example, must battle heat stress at all times. Lifeguards are another example that many people might overlook, even though everyone knows they are in the sun all the time. What about air conditioning and heating repair? Often, people in that line of work are in very hot attics. There is a lengthy list of careers that deal with hot temperatures, from machinists to cooks, parking lot attendants to volcanologists, and, yes, office careers too (when the air conditioning goes out). At its theme parks, even Disney's Mickey Mouse is a heat-intensive position that puts the wearer at risk for heat stress. Heat exposure exists all throughout the workforce and its effects can have a strong impact.
GOING SOUTH, AND NOT FOR THE HEAT
Performance in the workplace can diminish rapidly when the temperature begins to rise, especially if unexpected. It's difficult to do your best work when experiencing heat stress resulting in heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, or heat rashes. Injuries can occur in the work environment when heat creates sweaty palms, fogged-up safety glasses, and dizziness. Hot surfaces and steam can easily cause burns. With these types of scenarios happening in so many different work environments and professions, maintaining a high level of success and productivity means taking certain measures to either prevent or respond to heat stress.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has guidelines and Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs that can be aligned with a local heat-illness prevention program in the workplace. In order for those programs to be useful, supervisors need to commit to recognizing and restricting exposure to heat stress hazards that employees will experience. This is done by developing mitigating practices, such as temperature monitoring, clothing requirements, and workload management As well, if employees are exposed to a heat-related illness, the prevention program should establish how the employer will respond to such an emergency. The first line of defense, however, is the mitigation practice, before an emergency occurs. Some ways this can be instituted are:
- Air conditioning.
- Fans.
- Reflective shields to block radiant heat.
- Insulation against hot surfaces.
- Providing shade for work sites.
- Work scheduled earlier or later in the day when it is cooler.
- Required breaks and rest schedules.
- Relief workers.
- Hydration (key) - Providing fluids for workers to consume and re-hydrate (not soda).
- Sunscreen.
- PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) - Clothing and gear that can prevent burns and/or heat stress.
- Medical monitoring - Medically trained staff who can monitor employees and add an additional layer of mitigation that prevents a emergency, but can also be an emergency response, as well, should an incident occur.
HEAT? WHAT HEAT?
For those associates and employees who are un-acclimatized -- those who normally do not operate in heat stress conditions or who have not adequately prepared for them -- The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH®) has established an Action Limit (AL) for un-acclimatized workers and a Threshold Limit Value (TLV®) for acclimatized workers in Heat Stress and Strain: TLV® Physical Agents 7th Edition Documentation (2017). Limits that are set by the ACGIH, varied by WBGT and metabolic rate, are intended to maintain core body temperature to within one degree Celsius of normal (37 degrees Celsius or 98.6 Fahrenheit for most people). This documents provides assistance in how to understand when a worker might be exposed to heat stress above those limits and what kind of preventive actions can be taken to reduce the exposure, implement environmental controls, plan work schedules, and use personal protective equipment (PPE).
Training is one of the most effective tactics in the toolbox of eliminating heat-borne illnesses in the work environment. Companies should routinely have training made available to all members, teaching them how to understand what heat stress is, methods (and hopefully company policy) used to prevent it, when to recognize the signs, and how best to respond when someone has succumbed to heat stress. This training is crucial not only for themselves, but also an employee's co-workers who will end up relying on help from the person next to them. The best protection for an employee is the employee themselves, or their co-worker, with the help of the organization they work in. Such assistance comes in the form of useful tools and awareness, along with management committed to preventing heat stress from the start.
Done properly, the only heat stress a company should have to worry about is the heat under the collar of personnel relations.
Copyright 2018 - Business Training Media
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