Preventing and Responding to Heat Illness
II. Real Time Communication
As temperatures increase and other environmental factors change throughout the workday, employees’ physical and mental state can also rapidly change into a serious medical condition. Therefore it is important to stay alert to the weather. Make sure to monitor the weather at the specific locations where work activities are occurring. Continue to stay updated throughout the work shift on the changing air temperatures and other environmental factors. Use current weather information to make the appropriate adjustments in work activities throughout the workday.
Remember that during a heat wave, where there is a sudden and temporary rise in temperatures above the seasonal average, heat illness can develop even faster (see 6. Extra Measures During a Heat Wave).
It is important to encourage your employees not to discount any discomfort or symptoms they are experiencing and to report these problems immediately to their supervisor and coworkers. Employees and supervisors should be fully trained on the prevention of heat illness.
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To convey information and address rapidly changing conditions, it is important to implement a two way communication system. The goal is to make adjustments in work practices, communicate them and put them into place before problems arise or become serious (see I. Effective Work Practices).
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By using your system you will be able to readily communicate with employees in the field. With the employees input from the field, you can then use the information to quickly make the proper adjustments in your work practices and put them into effect, or summon emergency response personnel if necessary. This will allow you to determine what you need to tell employees and what they need to tell you on a daily and hourly basis as needed to address problems as they arise. To accomplish this have a supervisor or “designated person(s)” at the worksite with the authority to communicate and implement any measures necessary to address heat illness. These measures can help prevent problems from developing or getting worse.
During warm or hot weather and heat waves it is necessary for supervisors and employees to be attentive to each other and communicate on a frequent basis about how they are feeling. Using your two-way communication system allows employees to report to supervisors, co-workers or other designated persons how they are feeling on a real time basis. Some practical suggestions include:
- Using a "buddy system" so that supervisors or a designated person(s) and coworkers can watch each other closely for discomfort or symptoms of heat illness. Are employees looking and acting normal throughout the work shift?
- Accounting for the whereabouts of your crew at appropriate intervals throughout the work shift and at the end of the work shift (e.g., keep a log of employees on your work crews including their names, supervisors, work locations, and hours worked on a given day, etc.)
- Ensuring that employees who work alone have a special system to monitor them closely by having them “check-in” periodically and account for their whereabouts (e.g., procedures to follow and a reliable means of communication for employees and supervisors to use)
- Holding short, frequent meetings (e.g., before and during work)
- Having frequent "check-ins" by the "designated person(s)" and supervisors
Some "tools" for effective real time communication in remote locations include the use of cell phones, walkie-talkies, two way radios, satellite phones, and other devices.
Employees and supervisors need to be fully trained on how to use your real time communication system to prevent heat illness.
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