When the weather is hot, outdoor workers can face unique challenges on the jobsite, like heat stroke and heat exhaustion. By maintaining a safe working environment and educating your team about self-care practices in the heat, you can help prevent heat-related injuries and keep your operations running smoothly. Read on for heat safety tips for your worksite.
The Importance of Heat Safety
When working in the heat, it’s critical that your team pay attention to warning signs members of the crew may experience while on the job. Exposure to extreme heat, especially for a prolonged period, can increase the risk of experiencing heat stress. Heat stress happens when a person’s body heat increases more rapidly than the body’s ability to expel the excess heat. Body heat increases as the body generates heat internally through physical activity and/or absorbs heat externally from the environment. This means workers performing strenuous tasks in extreme heat are subject to heat stress if proper safety behaviors are not followed.
Heat stress can result in illness, like heat stroke, heat exhaustion, muscle cramps and heat rash. Other heat effects, like dizziness, surface burns and sweaty palms can increase the risk of workplace injuries. While workers are at risk of injuries or illness due to heat exposure, hot working conditions also present risks to employers. Unexpected downtime, incident costs and legal issues such as injury-related lawsuits can have a negative impact on business.
In this post, we’re sharing some best practices for heat stress prevention in the workplace. Read on for working in the heat safety tips, including ways you can prepare for extreme heat on the jobsite.
4 Heat Safety Tips for Your Worksite
1. Educate Your Team on Individual Heat Safety Behaviors
All team members contribute to workplace heat safety, so it’s critical to establish and reinforce heat safety behaviors on your jobsite. Below are some personal best practices that should be regularly reinforced with your team.
- Stay hydrated. Water intake supports sweat production, which helps maintain proper body temperature. As part of your heat-safety training, ensure your team knows to start drinking water before they even begin their workday. Most people need several hours to drink enough fluids to replace what they lose through sweat. Starting the workday off by drinking water will help workers acclimatize to the heat and reduce the risk of becoming dehydrated. Consider beginning the hydration cycle on Sunday before the work week begins.
- Avoid caffeine. When working in the heat, workers should also avoid caffeinated beverages, such as soda and coffee. When it’s hot outside, excessive caffeine is known to cause dehydration and increase risk of heat-related issues.
- Eat smaller meals. It’s also important for individuals working in the heat to maintain their energy by consuming smaller, more frequent meals and snacks. Good options include foods high in nutrients with a high-water concentration, like watermelon, cucumbers and peaches.
- Dress appropriately for the heat. Many outdoor workers are required to wear certain gear for protection, depending on the work they are performing. Workers should always wear the required personal protective equipment (PPE) but, when possible, they should wear lightweight, light-colored and loose-fitting clothing to help protect against the heat. Darker clothing absorbs more heat, while light-colored clothing reflects light and can help workers stay cooler for longer.
2. Plan for Acclimatization
Acclimatization is the process of building tolerance to the heat. As an individual spends more time in a hot environment, their body will slowly get used to it. This means workers are at a greater risk for heat illness in the period of time before they’ve acclimatized to the extreme heat.
If temperatures rise suddenly, the CDC recommends gradual increased exposure to the hot environment over a period of seven to 14 days.
3. Use Climate Control Equipment to Keep Workers Safe
Another way to provide some relief to crews working in the heat is the use of climate control equipment such as portable air conditioners, mist fans and spot coolers. Having these climate control solutions onsite provides hot weather safety, allowing your employees to continue to work without interruptions caused by heat-related injuries or accidents.
In addition to creating a cooler and more comfortable environment for your workers, equipment such as a portable air conditioner also may help circulate air and filter dust and pollutants that can impact worker health.
4. Create a Heat-Safety Culture on Your Worksite and Provide Support
One of the easiest ways to minimize heat-related risks on your worksite it to avoid or limit the amount of time your team is working in extreme heat. The next-best option is evaluating work schedules that distribute time working in the heat among multiple employees and prioritizing their safety with the below best practices.
- Allow for adequate cooling breaks. Regular breaks are important for bringing a person’s body temperature down after working in the heat. Rest breaks also provide workers time needed (and serve as a reminder) to rehydrate with water and refuel their body with appropriate snacks. Provide workers time to take breaks from the heat in a cool location out of the sun. Consider setting up a shaded area or utilizing portable climate control equipment if an indoor air-conditioned break area is not available.
- Ensure workers have access to cool drinking water during their shift. A person working in the heat should drink one cup (eight ounces) of water every 15-20 minutes. This can be a challenge for construction crews, utility workers and others working in an environment without running water. Providing coolers of water bottles is one option for making water available to your team. Setting up portable water dispensers is another option you may consider.
- Implement a “buddy system.” Because heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses often impair awareness and cognition, individuals may not recognize the symptoms of heat-related illnesses in themselves. However, they are more likely to notice the symptoms of heat stroke in a team member they work with. That’s why pairing up workers to keep an eye on each other is a good best practice.
- Institute a “stop work” policy if a worker experiences heat-stress symptoms. These symptoms include nausea, dizziness, muscle cramps, headaches and fatigue. If a worker experiences any of these symptoms, they should stop work immediately. OSHA’s heat-related first aid guidance advises moving the worker to a cooler area, such as a shaded area or an air-conditioned environment, and prioritizing cooling them down with ice baths, cold wet towels and/or fans. When in doubt, call 911.
Rent Portable Cooling Solutions from Herc Rentals
If it’s getting too hot on the job, Herc Rentals has all the gear you need to cool down your worksite and keep your projects moving safely and productively. Our dedicated team of experts can help you find the portable cooling solution that meets your needs.
Explore Herc Rentals portable cooling solutions, or give us a call at (888) 777-2700 to discuss options with an expert today.
Additional resources with heat safety tips for your worksite:
- OSHA provides employer and worker resources for working in the heat at OSHA.gov/heat.
- Learn more about the signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses, as well as tips for staying safe in extreme heat, at CDC.gov/extreme-heat.
