Why are Personal Risk Factors Important to Know?
When it comes to observing, identifying, and treating heat sickness it is important to remember one thing: Some workers handle heat stress less effectively than others.
The reasoning is that we all have personal risk factors that impact how we, each, individually react to heat stressors. It is important to know what these personal risk factors are so you can identify them and share some appropriate safety information with the workers who may be affected. While we can all observe OSHA’s “Water, Rest, Shade” recommendations for working in heat, this is a perfect opportunity to showcase the “Gilbane Cares” culture on your job site. Get to know your workers, share some safety information with them and let them understand that you are looking out for their safety.
What Personal Risk Factors Contribute to Heat Illness?
Water consumption: In warm or hot conditions, drinking enough water (one quart per hour during the entire work shift) to stay healthy is vital for maintaining a normal body temperature. When working in these conditions, the body loses a lot of water through sweating. Sweating helps low- er the internal body heat but as the body continues to lose water, it needs to be replaced to prevent dehydration and heat illness. Dehydration results in less perspiration so the body cannot get rid of heat fast enough causing increased heat load. The body overheats without sufficient water consumption.
Alcohol consumption: Alcohol increases dehydration and the body’s requirements for water consumption. Sweating can cause the body to lose a large amount of water. As the body becomes dehydrated, more water is required to replace bodily fluids. Dehydration increases a person’s susceptibility to heat illness and deteriorates their work performance.
Degree of acclimation: Workers new to outdoor jobs are generally most at risk for heat-related illnesses. It is important to gradually increase the workload or allow more frequent breaks to help new workers and those returning to a job after time away build up a tolerance for hot conditions. Make sure that workers understand the risks and are “acclimatized.”
Caffeine consumption: Sodas and drinks containing caffeine and sugar may increase dehydration. Therefore, it is important to encourage employees to choose water over these types of drinks. Also, if employees choose these other drinks, they may drink less water.
Physical condition: Physical fitness is a major factor influencing a person’s ability to perform work under heat stress. The more fit someone is, the more work they can safely perform. At a given level of work, a fit person, relative to an unfit person, will have:
- A lower body temperature, which indicates less retained body heat
- Less physiological strain
- A more efficient sweating mechanism
- Slightly lower oxygen consumption
- Slightly lower carbon dioxide production
Other personal risk factors include the worker’s age, the worker’s weight, and any medication that the worker is taking.
It is important to know these factors so you can identify them when you are out walking our projects. We all want to make sure that our workers are knowledgeable in heat stress awareness and understand that there are personal risk factors that need to be considered on an individual basis. Heat illnesses affect us all individually, but it is up to all of us to make sure that we are practicing the “Gilbane Cares” beliefs on our jobs and keep looking out for each other, especially in the summer heat.
