Safety Tidbit 7.16 - Heat Exhaustion

Safety Tidbit 7.16 – Heat Exhaustion

References:     https://www.osha.gov/heat-exposure

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/heatstress/default.html

My student wrote this Safety Tidbit, Mr. Jerome Davis – a Junior in the Safety, Health, and Environmental Applied Sciences Program at the Indiana University of PA, graduating in Spring 2023.

Many workers in the United States deal with working in heat daily, whether indoors or outdoor. According to OSHA, 50% to 70% of outdoor fatalities occur in the first few days of working in warm or hot environments. The body needs to build a tolerance to the heat over time gradually. The number one heat illness that comes to mind is Heat exhaustion. According to the CDC, heat exhaustion is the body's response to an excessive loss of water and salt, usually through excessive sweating. These symptoms can quickly identify heat exhaustion: fatigue, irritability, thirst, nausea or vomiting, dizziness or light-headedness, heavy sweating and elevated body temperature or fast heart rate. The risk factors of heat exhaustion working in warm environments, heat sources, physical activity, heavy or non-breathable work clothes.

Heat exhaustion is an easily preventable heat illness on any given day. Employers don't have an option to ignore heat exhaustion because that would mean they disregard the health of their employees. Employers' expenses for protecting workers from heat exhaustion aren't high because all you need is a simple plan. Employers must create plans to protect workers from developing heat-related illnesses as stated in the OSHA General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1). The plan could be a heat exhaustion plan, and that plan will discuss actions that need to take place to keep workers safe. 

The plan will discuss oversight daily, adequate first aid, and the protocol for summoning medical assistance, engineering controls, work practices training, etc. Other things employers could do to minimize heat exhaustion are providing sufficient rest and shade, providing water, whether it's a station or water bottles, at all times, calculating total heat stress, training the workers on heat exhaustion, and controlling workers' rotations/shifts. By conducting these simple tasks, heat Exhaustion will be minimized and even prevented in certain situations.

Here are some quick tips NIOSH gives excellent first aid tips when fighting Heat exhaustion.

Treat a worker suffering from heat exhaustion with the following:

• ·      Take workers to a clinic or emergency room for medical evaluation and treatment.
• ·      Call 911 if medical care is unavailable.
• ·      Stay with the worker until help arrives.
• ·      Remove workers from the hot area and give them liquids to drink.
• ·      Remove unnecessary clothing, including shoes and socks.
• ·      Cool the worker with cold compresses or have the worker wash their head, face, and neck with cold water.
• ·      Encourage frequent sips of cool water.

I hope this was helpful, and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

 

P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.

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