Lazy, Hazy—and Dangerous—Days of Summer

1. Heat rash
   Symptoms: red, bumpy rash that can be itchy.
   Treatment: Rest in a cool place and keep skin dry and clean.
2. Heat cramps
   Symptoms: painful muscle cramps
   Treatment: Drink electrolyte fluids to replace lost water and salt.
3. Heat Exhaustion
   Symptoms: weakness, dizziness, or nausea; clammy skin; complexion pale or flushed; vomiting and loss of consciousness in severe cases
   Treatment: Rest in a cool place and drink plenty of fluids, preferably electrolyte fluids to replace lost salt as well as body fluids.
4. Heatstroke
   Symptoms: worker stops sweating; skin hot and dry; confusion, convulsions, and loss of consciousness possible
   Treatment: Call for an ambulance immediately; remove heavy outer clothing and keep victim cool by soaking clothes with water or spraying with mists of water; place ice packs under the armpits and groin area. Give only liquids to conscious victim.

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Familiarize your workers with the various engineering controls that your workplace uses, which can help reduce risks in several ways:

• General ventilation removes heat or creates crosswinds that improve air velocity and reduce heat stress.
• Spot cooling removes heat from a particular work area or blows cool air into a particular area.
• Shields may be installed around ovens and other sources of radiant heat allowing workers to stand behind the shield in a cooler area while observing equipment.
• Machinery used in place of manual labor reduces stress on the body and often allows workers to control machine operations from inside a cool control booth.

Also, let workers know which of the following administrative controls you use to help reduce heat risk:

• Rescheduling work means workers don’t have to perform heavy work in hot conditions.
• Taking more frequent or longer breaks prevents workers from getting overheated or gives them more time to recover from heat stress before going back to work.
• Allowing workers sufficient time to acclimate to hot conditions allows the body’s cooling mechanism to adjust gradually to stressful conditions.
• Reducing physical demands means workers don’t have to work as hard, which reduces the risk of overexertion and heat stress.
• Using relief workers allows one crew to rest and recover from the heat while the other crew continues with the work. This lets you maintain production schedules and protect workers from heat stress at the same time.
• Limiting work hours in hot conditions prevents employees from being exposed to hot conditions for long periods, thus reducing the chance of heat illness.
• Encouraging workers to pace themselves when working in hot conditions reduces the risk of overexertion and allows workers’ bodies to cool adequately to prevent heat stress.

Describe any worker monitoring programs that your workplace uses to check:

• Heart rate by taking a worker’s pulse during breaks to ensure the heart rate is within a safe range (<110 beats per minute) at the beginning of the break and lower as the rest period progresses
• Temperature at the end of the shift to ensure it is within a safe range (not more than 99.7degrees Fahrenheit)
• Body water loss by weighing workers at the end of the shift (weight loss during a single workday should not be more than 1.5 percent of a worker’s total weight)

Customize this column to include only the heat-reducing steps you take in your workplace. Just make sure employees know how to keep safe working in hot weather so they can enjoy their favorite season.

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Why It Matters

• In addition to the very young and the very old, those at greatest risk for heat-related illness include the overweight, those with high blood pressure or heart disease, and people taking certain medications.
• Medications that can increase your risk of heat-related illness include psychotropics; medications for Parkinson’s disease; tranquilizers such as phenothiazines, butyrophenones, and thiozanthenes; and diuretic medications or “water pills.”
• Everyone can experience a heat-related illness if they do not take the hazard seriously and follow safety precautions.

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