How To Stay Safe On The Job During a Heat Wave

This summer brought astronomically high temperatures across the country and it doesn’t look like it will let up anytime soon. However, while summer brings hot weather, it also brings an extensive amount of business requiring crews to work long hours in those high temperatures.

It’s always great to have more business and stay busy, but it’s important to keep your crew safe. Heat exhaustion, dehydration, harmful UV rays and other heat-related health problems are dangerous for your team, so you’ll need to take proper precautions to ensure everyone operates safely and can take care of themselves. If we’re not keeping you and your team safe, we’re not doing our job.

Let’s go through the different dangers of summertime work, review what to look for, how to stay safe and what to do in case there is an emergency. This can help you better watch out for your team and make sure that their wellbeing is taken care of. Let’s dive in.

Heat Cramps, Heat Exhaustion, Non-Exertional And Exertional Heat Stroke: Why You Should Always Heed Excessive Heat Warnings

Extreme hot weather causes numerous health issues, but it’s not always easy to spot and diagnose them. Heat Stroke, Heat Exhaustion and Heat Cramps are common ailments that occur from overexposure to the sun in high temperatures, so being able to identify them is important for helping your team stay safe on the job site.

Here’s more about each one and how to tell the difference between them.

Heat Stroke Versus Heat Exhaustion: What Are The Key Characteristics?

The heat exhaustion differs from heat stroke in that they have different outcomes. However, both are caused by carrying on physical exertion with prolonged exposure to extreme heat that causes irregularities in how the body functions. Both ailments are harmful and can have lasting effects on someone’s health and well-being.

What’s The Difference Between Heat Stroke And Heat Exhaustion?

The body’s internal temperature is a key indicator of whether someone has heat stroke or heat exhaustion. If it’s below 104 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s typically heat exhaustion, whereas anything over that level tends to be heat stroke.

Heat Exhaustion Symptoms:
  • Dizziness
  • Headache
  • Being excessively tired or weak (beyond how you would normally feel after working)
  • Pale or clammy skin
  • Heat rash: this is when sweat becomes trapped inside the skin and causes small blisters or enlarged bumps to break out that are sometimes itchy.
  • Increased heartbeat or fast breathing
  • Intense thirst
How To Treat Heat Exhaustion:

If you think that you or someone else on your team might have heat exhaustion, it’s important to act quickly. Someone with heat exhaustion should stop working and get to a cool place to help lower their body temperature—laying down or taking a seat is often the best course of action.

Have them take small sips of water, put a cold washcloth on their head and put a fan in their direction. You want to lower their bodily temperature to avoid anything more serious happening.

The Danger Of Non-Exertional And Exertional Heat Stroke:

When the body exceeds 104 degrees Fahrenheit, causing heat stroke, symptoms become much more dangerous and can cause long-term damage and death. It causes the body to lose its ability to regulate its temperature, which can result in organ failure, brain impairment and disfunction.

Exertional heat stroke, which usually afflicts younger people on an irregular basis, has a mortality rate of 26.5%, while non-exertional heat stroke typically affects older adults during extreme or unordinary heat waves, has a mortality rate of 63.2%.

Since heat stroke is much more dangerous than heat exhaustion, it’s important to know what to look for so you can get help right away.

Heat Stroke Symptoms:
  • Change in mental capacity and alertness
  • Confusion or loss of consciousness
  • Difficulty seeing or entire loss of vision
  • Skin that’s hot to the touch, as well as wet, pale, itchy and dry
  • Sparse breathing and an irregular heartbeat
  • Vomiting
How To Treat Heat Stroke:

If you think that someone on your team might have heat stroke, or if they’re exhibiting any of the above symptoms, call 911 immediately. Immerse them in cold water, get them to a shady or cooler area or wrap them in wet sheets or blankets to help lower their body temperature. Have them drink water and try to rehydrate.

The sooner you can get them into a hospital with professional medical care, the better chances you have of preventing long-term damage, organ failure or death.

Heat-related deaths have steadily risen in the United States over the past few years. Making sure you and your team are working cautiously on your job sites is more important than ever before.

Let’s run through ways to stay safe.

Heat Safety Tips: How To Prevent Heat Stroke, Heat Exhaustion And Other Ways To Stay Safe In Hot Temperatures

While you now know how to spot the symptoms and treat heat-related dangers, the best way to look out for your team is to take measures to avoid issues in the first place.

Always follow these best practices to avoid falling into a tough situation. Making these a regular part of your team’s routine and daily schedule can help everyone stay safer, more comfortable and improve their wellbeing.

Summer Heat Safety Tips

  • Wear Reflective Clothing And Take Other Protective Measures: Wearing protective clothing and clothes that shield your skin and face reduce the damage caused by the sun.
  • Stay Hydrated: Drinking plenty of water can help prevent heat stroke and heat exhaustion. Adults should drink 17 to 20 ounces of fluid before beginning any outdoor activity and an additional 7 to 10 ounces every 10 to 20 minutes. Keep hydrating after you get out of the sun too—you still need water after your activity is over.
  • Apply Plenty Of Sunscreen: Wear sunscreen on any part of your body that will be exposed throughout the day. Make sure it’s SPF 30 or higher.
  • Repeatedly Check In With Workers And Yourself: Taking a moment to monitor how you and other coworkers are feeling can go a long way toward making sure everyone is safe. Throughout a busy day, it’s common to both ignore and not notice how you’re feeling. Pausing for a water break is always a good idea when experiencing high temperatures.
  • Wear Light, Loose Clothing: While we already touched on wearing clothes to cover exposed skin, it’s equally important to make sure that those materials are lightweight and breathable. This way, you can still stay cool while making sure you don’t get a sunburn or unnecessary exposure. Cotton is both sturdy and breathable, making it perfect for a construction job site.
  • Gradually Build Up To Heavy Work: Don’t jump straight into doing extra-strenuous work first. Make sure you have time to warm up to it by completely smaller, lighter tasks beforehand.
  • Schedule Heavy Work During The Coolest Parts Of The Day: Obviously this isn’t always in your control, but, if possible, complete work that requires more physical exertion at a time when it’s less hot. Doing tough manual labor when you’re most exposed to the sun is not only more difficult, but also more dangerous than waiting for dusk.
  • Take Breaks to Catch Your Breath: Taking breaks is always a good idea on a construction site, but they’re even more important in hot weather. Encouraging your team to step aside, drink plenty of water and take care of themselves is one of the best ways to make sure everyone is safe throughout a high temperature workday.

Boyd CAT Has Everything You Need To Stay Safe And Work Productively This Summer.

Now that we’re in the thick of summer jobs, it’s important to stay safe and keep your team hydrated. Contact us today for more safety information and all your equipment needs.

Sources:
WetBulb Globe Temperature
Radiant Heat.
Ask the Doc: Heat Stroke vs. Heat Exhaustion — What’s the Difference?.
Extreme Heat
Heat exhaustion and heatstroke
Heat rash
Heat Exhaustion
Heatstroke
Heat and health
Heat Stroke
Classic and exertional heatstroke
Heat Stroke
Heatstroke
Extreme Heat.

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