Articles Tagged with ''heat stress''

On Tuesday, July 19, 2022, United States legislators, labor leaders, PPE manufacturers, and safety experts met at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. to advocate for heat safety and the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act. 

While outdoor environments may deal with more extreme temperatures, heavy equipment and frequent movement in industrial workplaces can lead to high, potentially dangerous temperatures in industrial facilities.

As temperatures and the risk of heat illness rise in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration reminds employers and workers not to ignore the dangers of working in hot weather – indoors and out.

With the summer months quickly arriving, we are looking forward to BBQs and lots of good times outdoors. But it also means that some of us will be working in the sun and heat, performing our jobs with occupational safety hazards not found in the cooler seasons.

A new study from an advocacy nonprofit blasts OSHA and reveals increasing dangers. Heat stress is one of the top five causes of workplace injuries and deaths, and summers are getting hotter. 

The internet is full of outdated, incomplete, and even wrongheaded advice, and the news is full of dire predictions that the world is getting hotter and heat illness is getting more frequent. So what’s a concerned safety manager to do?

OSHA is forming a National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Work Group to provide better understanding of challenges and to identify and share best practices to protect workers. What does this mean for employers?

For the first time, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched a National Emphasis Program to protect millions of workers from heat illness and injuries. Through the program, OSHA will conduct heat-related workplace inspections before workers suffer completely preventable injuries, illnesses or, even worse, fatalities.