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Workplace Health & Safety
Michelle Ann Zoleta, Health & Safety Team Manager
(Last updated )
Michelle Ann Zoleta, Health & Safety Team Manager
(Last updated )
Under the Occupational Health and Safety laws, it is the employer’s general duty to take all reasonable precautions for the health and safety of their employees. This includes protecting staff working in hot conditions from heat stress and heat stroke.
Given the high temperatures southern regions of Canada experience during summer, it is important that employers have a heat stress plan in place to protect their staff.
Heat stress occurs when your body heats up faster than it can cool itself. Usually, sweating cools down our bodies. But this might not suffice when you work in a hot and humid environment. In this case, sweating causes dehydration as the body loses fluids and salt through sweat. As the body cannot get rid of excess heat, its core temperature increases, and the heart rate goes up.
Outdoor workers are typically exposed to occupational heat stress, which impacts workers’ overall health and safety, and lowers productivity, resulting in economic loss.
Heat stress can lead to heat disorders, such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke (which can be fatal if not treated immediately).
Watch out for the following signs:
A major cause is the work environment. This includes factors such as radiant heat due to direct or indirect sunlight or high humidity.
When the air temperature in the workplace is hotter than the skin temperature, it can also cause the body to overheat. Another cause is the nature of work. More active tasks will produce more heat in the body.
A third main cause for heat stress could be health of the worker. Their bodies may not react well to overheating due to preexisting medical conditions or advanced age, obesity, or insufficient water intake. Conditioning also makes a difference. If the worker is not used to working in hot environments, they may be prone to heat stress. Inappropriate personal protective equipment and/or excess clothing are other causes.
To safeguard your staff from heat disorders, you should first conduct a risk assessment of your workplace. Once you identify the hazards, you can use the hierarchy of safety controls to make the necessary changes to your workplace. The hierarchy of controls ranks different methods of controlling hazards according to their effectiveness.
This is the most effective safety control. You should ask yourself — is it possible to carry out the work in a cooler environment? If it is, then you can eliminate the risk of heat stress by changing the work environment.
This method involves modifying your workplace to minimize the hazard. Examples of engineering controls to reduce heat stress would include:
You can also alter your work policies and procedures to minimize the threat of heat stress. For instance, you could:
This is the least effective control and must be used in combination with other safety controls. Make sure your workers wear light and breathable summer clothing. Their heads should also be covered to avoid exposure to direct sunlight.
Your staff working in very hot environments must wear heat-reflective clothing or water-cooled suits. Avoid chemical protective clothing, which isn’t breathable. If workers must wear it, they should keep an eye out for early signs of heat stress.
Make sure the PPE your staff uses has been tested and is working properly.
For workers with no experience of working in hot environments, you could gradually increase the activity level over one to two weeks. Or you could gradually increase the time spent in the hot environment.
Even workers with experience will gradually need to re-adjust to the heat if they have been ill or away from work for 9 or more days.
You should create a heat stress plan based on your work environment. For workplaces, such as smelters, bakeries, etc., the Ontario Ministry of Labour recommends employers follow the guidelines in the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) booklet, Threshold Limit Value (TLVs).
Employers are also advised to set up a heat stress control plan in consultation with their workplace joint health and safety committee or worker health and safety representative. Employers in Ontario are advised to create and use a hot weather plan between May 1 and September 30 every year.
The governments of British Columbia and Alberta also provide guidance and resources on their websites for managing heat stress at work.
Please note that this article does not replace the Occupational Health and Safety legislation in your province. It should not be used or considered as legal advice. Health and safety officers apply the law based on the facts in the workplace.
Whether you need assistance developing company policies, have an HR or health & safety query or are struggling with an employee issue – Peninsula can help.
We will help you streamline your processes, update policies and workplace documentation, and ensure you are compliant with laws and protected from litigation. We have a team of consultants available 24/7 via telephone to answer all your queries. We also offer a smart HR software to make your daily HR and OHS tasks quick and convenient.
To learn more about how our services can benefit your business, call an expert today at 1 (833) 247-3652.
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