The ABCs of Heat-Related Illnesses

As temperatures rise, it’s critical to protect recycling workers from heat-related illnesses. Whether they’re working indoors or outdoors, employees are at risk of suffering any of the three main types of heat-related illnesses:

■ Heat cramps: Painful muscle cramps and spasms caused by working in warm or hot environments.

■ Heat exhaustion: This condition results from a loss of water and salt in the body due to working in extreme heat and sweating excessively. Common symptoms include thirst, heavy sweating, fatigue, irritability, nausea, dizziness, elevated body temperature, and fast heart rate.

■ Heat stroke: This condition occurs when the body’s heat-regulating system is overwhelmed and cannot cool the body sufficiently. Common signs include confusion, slurred speech, unconsciousness, seizures, heavy sweating or hot, dry skin, very high body temperature, and rapid heart rate. 

In hot working environments, employees can suffer heat-related illnesses due to direct sun exposure with no shade, physical exertion, low fluid consumption, limited air movement (no breeze or wind), and use of bulky clothing and personal protective equipment.

A key step to protecting workers is having a heat-illness prevention program in your company. Elements of such a program include

■ identifying potential heat-related hazardous work conditions in your operations;

■ communicating to workers the “Water. Rest. Shade” safety message;

■ helping workers gradually acclimatize to hotter working conditions;

■ modifying work schedules to reduce workers’ exposure to heat;

■ training workers on the health effects of heat, symptoms of heat illness, how and when to respond to such symptoms, and how to prevent heat illness; and

■ creating and implementing an emergency plan to address heat-related illnesses in the workplace.

Click HERE to review OSHA’s information on working in indoor and outdoor heat environments.

Top photo by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. Hydration graphic from OSHA.



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