Work to Rest Regimens as a Heat Stress Management Tool
Why should companies be concerned with work to rest regimens when they haven’t had a heat stress related injury in a long time?
INTRODUCTION
At a conference on heat stress, a manager asks: “Why should I put efforts into a heat stress program when I
have not seen a single heat stress injury report over the past nine years?” When this manager was asked if he
looked for trends relating the number of accidents and injuries to
the heat, he admitted that he had not. Reflecting on this, the
manager began to show a deeper interest in the topic. Why? The
potential for accidents and injuries to occur as a result of
heat-induced disorders can represent a greater risk of loss than
the heat-induced disorder itself. A single worker experiencing a
heat-induced disorder can put the safety of an entire work crew,
plant or community at risk.
USER APPLICATION NEWS NOTE 4
HEALTH & OTHER RISKS
Heat tends to promote accidents due to dizziness, the slipperiness
of sweaty palms, or the fogging of safety glasses. Aside from these
more obvious dangers, the frequency of accidents, in general appears to be higher in hot environments than
in more moderate environmental conditions. One reason is that working in a hot environment lowers the
mental alertness and physical performance of an individual. Increased body temperature and physical
discomfort promote irritability, anger, and other emotional states, which sometimes cause workers to
overlook safety procedures or to divert attention from hazardous tasks. Heat stroke, exhaustion, cramps,
collapse, rashes and fatigue are all forms of heat-induced disorders that are either serious health risks
themselves or can lead to serious compromises in safety.
Work/Rest Regimens as a
Heat Stress Management Tool
RO OT CAUSES
Operations involving high air temperatures, radiant heat sources, high humidity, direct physical contact with
hot objects, or strenuous physical activities have a high potential for inducing heat stress in employees
engaged in such operations. Such places include: iron and steel foundries, nonferrous foundries, brick-firing
and ceramic plants, glass products facilities, rubber products factories, electrical utilities (particularly boiler
rooms), bakeries, confectioneries, commercial kitchens, laundries, food canneries, chemical plants, mining
sites, smelters, and steam tunnels.
Outdoor operations conducted in hot weather, such as construction, refining, asbestos removal, and hazardous
waste site activities, especially those that require workers to wear semi-permeable or impermeable protective
clothing, are also likely to cause heat stress among exposed workers.