Climate Change vs. Worker Health: Implementing a Heat Illness Prevention Program (Part 2)
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August 18, 2022 - In Part 1 of this series we discussed how climate change and the trajectory of longer hotter summers and extreme weather is impacting worker health and safety. If you have employees who work outdoors or in hot conditions indoors, implementing a three-step, risk-based approach for managing heat illness at your place of work can help organizations better protect its employees. Once Step 1: Identify “At-Risk” Workers and Work Activities has been completed, you can begin crafting and then implementing a heat illness prevention program. Let’s cover that here under Step 2.
Step 2: Develop and Implement a Heat Illness Prevention Program
If, as you go through your risk assessment process, you identify employees that are at risk for heat stress, you need to develop and implement a written heat illness prevention program that balances job requirements alongside workers’ safety to support healthier work conditions.
A heat illness prevention program in languages understood by at-risk workers should include detailed policies and procedures on:
- Program roles and responsibilities of managers, supervisors, and workers
- Assessing heat-illness risk and identifying at-risk work activities
- Planning, prevention, and protection measures
- Regular monitoring of weather and employee health
- Training and awareness, including prevention measures and recognizing risk factors and symptoms of heat illness
- An emergency response plan for workers exhibiting symptoms of heat illness
The written program must also comply with requirements of your state’s OSHA program (where applicable) and the Federal OSHA program (currently under public review and comment).
However, one of the most important considerations for managing worker safety is not an explicit requirement of any OSHA standard for heat illness prevention. It is important that managers and safety personnel perform a periodic review of company policies, procedures and contracts that may contribute to worker risk. For example, some company contracts incorporate monetary incentives for early project completion or penalties for missed deadlines. These contracts often do not include provisions for worker safety, such as extreme temperatures. Consideration of this aspect during contract negotiations or periodic internal procedure reviews can help adjust or red-flag business policies and practices that are not conducive to worker safety.
Read the final installment of Xavier Alcaraz’s series Climate Change vs. Worker Health for further insights on the current state of our climate crisis and understanding the challenges of identifying and preventing heat-related illnesses before they occur. The first installment of this series on Identifying at Risk Workers and Activities can be found here.
This series was originally published online by Occupational Health & Safety Magazine on September 24, 2021 under the title: Climate Change vs. Worker Health: How Companies can Protect Employees amid Rising Climate Temperatures and Comply with New OSHA Directive on Heat Illness Prevention. The content has been updated for this blog series.
