Heat-related illnesses claim the lives of over 650 people in America each year, and yet they are all largely preventable.

It's that time of year again: As the mercury rises, so too does the risk of heat stress for employees on industrial worksites. This is nothing new for safety leaders. What is new, of course, is the external environment, which differs in ways that would have been unimaginable in previous summers.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) brings new and unprecedented risks to the workplace, one of the most notable being the exposure and transmission of the disease among people who are in close proximity to one another. However, the transmission of the virus is not the only risk that workers face in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Company working alongside cooling gear leader MISSION® and heat stress pioneer The Korey Stringer Institute at UCONN to provide heat illness solutions and awareness.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA), thousands of workers become sick from occupational heat exposure each year.  However, heat-related illnesses are preventable.

We sat down recently to talk to Dr. Douglas J. Casa, CEO of the University of Connecticut-based Korey Stringer Institute (KSI). The mission of the KSI is to provide research, education, advocacy and consultation to maximize performance, optimize safety and prevent sudden death for the athlete, warfighter and laborer.

Yes, this is a story about errors - plural - made by one person, me. I’m not going to beat myself up here. James Reason, professor emeritus at the University of Manchester (UK), and one of the seminal authorities on human error, reminds us that most errors are caused by good, competent people who are trying to do the right thing.