Preparing for summer heat
The summer is heating up so now is a good time to sit down with your employees in a cool setting and talk about the signs of heat stress and what actions need to be taken to avoid heat stress.
By Charles Stark, Wilmer Pacheco and Adam Fahrenholz
Looking back at past articles we have talked about getting ready for winter and spring cleaning but have not touched upon the heat of the summer. The hot days of summer can affect motors, conditioning temperatures, A/C units and motor control centers. However, in this article we are going to discuss how it affects the feed mill employees. The feed manufacturing process often operates continuously, 24 hours a day, five or six days a week, regardless of the heat or humidity of the day. Additionally, employees respond differently to heat and thus summer heat programs should be developed that are specific to your region; in short, there is no one-size-fits-all program to address heat stress. Developing a written Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Program is the first step to addressing how to minimize the effects of the summer heat. This seemed like a timely subject since OSHA is currently developing a “Heat Illness Prevention Standard” and like most regulations it’s always good to get ahead of the standard and proactively consider measures to minimize the negative effects of heat stress in your employees. Gary Huddleston from AFIA has made several presentations on the proposed OSHA standard at several industry meetings and how they may affect the feed industry. Some of the major points being considered in the standard include:
Training for supervisors and employees to recognize the signs of heat illness. This could be a monthly safe topic this summer or toolbox talk for employees. Remember to document the training!
Develop a plan for acclimatizing new employees who probably have not worked in a feed mill. This may include more regular breaks when working in hot areas of the feed mill.
Develop trigger points for administrative and engineering controls. A hazard analysis would need to be performed to determine the factors and would trigger the controls. For example, temperature and humidity, inside versus outside working conditions, shade, type of clothing, PPE, and air movement just to name a few. These trigger points could also be based on the weather forecast or on-site measurements. The point at which one or both controls would be initiated would need to be defined in the program. OSHA is suggesting the program has both initial and high-heat trigger points.
Develop a set of administrative controls such as longer and more frequent rest breaks.
Provide and encourage hydrations (cool water, electrolyte drinks, etc.) in cool and/or shaded areas.
Implement engineering controls; examples would be fans (rated for the location hazards), cool-down areas, and reduce heat generating sources.
Develop a medical treatment and/or response plan.
These are just a few of the items being proposed by OSHA. For more details look at the OSHA website for “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings Rulemaking”.
As mentioned earlier, now is a good time to start working on a written plan for Heat Injury and Illness prevention. A good place to start is doing a hazard identification and assessment, create a training program for supervisors and employees, develop some administrative controls, start working on engineering controls, and, finally, have a medical treatment and heat-related emergency response.
The summer is heating up so now is a good time to sit down with your employees in a cool setting and talk about the signs of heat stress and what actions need to be taken to avoid heat stress. Have a safe summer!
