Heat-related illnesses are a threat in both indoor and outdoor settings, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been developing federal standards to address the root causes of these dangers.
Though their progress is methodical, they have published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM).
The agency has also launched a National Emphasis Program, conducted hundreds of heat-related inspections, and created Heat.gov.
Beginning with the National Emphasis Program, this is an outreach, inspection, and enforcement program aimed at addressing indoor and outdoor heat-related hazards. This program targets over 70 industries, including but not limited to the following sectors:
The program implements and describes policies and procedures that protect employees from heat-related hazards, injuries, and illness.
This program expands on OSHA’s current work and is intended to encourage early interventions by employers. The first step towards employers adopting these policies is ensuring proper training and access to information and resources.
Heat.gov is a valuable resource for employers.
This federal website was created to dispense heat and health-related information and become a web portal for the National Integrated Heat Health Information System.
This system was intended to provide real-time data and response sources for the public and local officials. While it was a collaboration between a number of federal agencies, some of the biggest players include:
The website includes heat forecasts from various federal agencies, guides to plan and prepare for high temperatures, and opportunities to support communities and public health programs at high risk for heat exposure.
This website is the Biden Administration’s latest effort to address extreme heat and other impacts of climate change.
Using funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, crucial investments in programs that build resilient infrastructure that help communities withstand extreme weather conditions, such as wildfires, drought, heat, and other heat-related hazards.
The current Administration has also made record investments to help families with their household energy costs through other pieces of legislation, recently with the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act.
In addition to inflation and climate change, reducing energy costs are priorities for both the American people and the Biden Administration. July 2021 was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, and summers are only getting hotter and deadlier.
Extreme heat is a global threat.
Human-caused climate change is worsening, with the United States' annual average temperature projected to rise by 5-8.7℉ by the end of this century.
Heat-related illnesses and death are preventable with adequate education, planning, and monitoring.
Few health systems have heat exposure action plans integrated into their real-time clinical decision-making for patients.
As heatwaves become more frequent, intense, and last longer, there is a crucial need for increased health system preparedness to meet the growing load of heat-related illness.
Tools such as Heat.gov provide health systems with easy access to information needed to improve patient and community health outcomes while simultaneously reducing system-wide impacts and improving the efficiency of federal health agencies (1).
The first step in combating heat-related illnesses is proper education, both from job training and individual research.
Let's start with the definition of heat-related illnesses.
The four most common heat illnesses include heat rash, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. These maladies can range in severity from irritating to life-threatening.
Heat rash is a skin irritation caused by prolonged heat exposure, resulting in redness and large rashes in extreme cases.
Heat cramps are painful muscle spasms caused by overheating and dehydration.
Heat exhaustion also results from dehydration and prolonged exposure, which cause heavy sweating, a rapid, weak pulse, rapid breathing, and even weakness.
The most life-threatening of these illnesses occurs when the body temperature rises above 104℉ within a short period.
Symptoms of a heat stroke include confusion, seizures, and even loss of consciousness. If untreated, heat stroke can lead to organ failure, a coma, and even death.
A crucial part of this education is understanding the physical and even genetic factors that increase the risk of heat illness.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, additional factors that increase your risk of getting a heat illness include:
Ways to combat these factors are not only being aware of them but also taking proper individual precautions when exposed to heat to mitigate significant effects.
Standard precautions align with OSHA’s message of “Water.Rest.Shade.”
Employers are encouraged to ensure workers drink water every 15 minutes, take frequent breaks in the shade to cool down, train workers on the hazards of heat exposure, have an emergency plan ready to respond when signs of heat-related hazards appear, and allow workers to build a tolerance for working in the heat.
All of these precautions are essential to ensuring the safety of all individuals and combating heat-related illnesses. Employers and individuals can use free federal resources, such as Heat.gov, to learn more about these precautions and receive additional training and assistance.
Employers can also leverage technologies such as Sonicu’s remote wireless heat stress temperature-monitoring solution. Trusted in many manufacturing and logistics facilities, the Sonicu system is affordable, intuitive, and easy to deploy in just minutes.
While it can’t prevent high heat or a surprise OSHA inspection, it can play an important role in keeping managers and even employees aware of rising heat threats and in demonstrating to inspectors that facility leadership is taking a proactive approach to managing heat stress.