With climate change in mind, it is imperative that industries evaluate current heat safety practices and explore the potential of core body temperature-sensing wearables that accurately predict heat strain, improve worker productivity, and mitigate adverse heat-related health outcomes.

Opinions are most divisive over a risk-related question: will climate change harm you personally? A 2021 Yale poll found a split (47 percent yes – 45 percent no). OK, so maybe baby boomers and older adults get a pass. But their kids?

The Biden Administration through the interagency National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) launched Heat.gov, a new website to provide the public and decision-makers with educated information to understand and reduce the health risks of extreme heat.

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. 

Workers are frequently the first to be exposed to the effects of climate change, and they are exposed for longer periods of time and at higher intensities than the broader population. Given this, when it comes to climate change adverse effects on workers, such as disease or injury, may be among the first indicators of the health effects of climate change on the general public. 

In many ways, sustainability is a safety professional's best friend. Sustainable practices are almost always inherently safer than unsustainable ones, and approaching your day-to-day operations from the perspective of sustainability will likely help you create a safer workplace. 

On a summer morning near Dayton, Ohio, a temporary worker began his first day with a commercial roofing company around 6:30 a.m. Mark Rainey, 60, was assigned to a crew to rip off and dispose of an old bank-building roof. Within hours, as the heat index reached 85 degrees, his co-workers noticed the new guy was “walking clumsily,” then became ill and collapsed, according to documents from OSHA.