Feds ask meteorologists to help workers with heat hazard warnings
With much of the nation baking under extreme temperatures, OSHA chief Dr. David Michaels took to the blogosphere to issue a renewed call for heat safety.
“Workers who are outside – construction workers, farmworkers, landscapers, roofers, baggage handlers, and others – are facing some brutal conditions out there, conditions that can do far more damage than just make us uncomfortable,” Michaels writes on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) official blog, Work in Progress. “High heat can cause body temperature to rise to dangerous levels if precautions are not taken. Heat illnesses range from heat rash and heat cramps to heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Heat stroke can result in death. I want to make sure that everyone understands the basic precautions necessary to keep from getting sick or worse.”