In 2005, a dozen California workers died of heat illness—a toll that resulted in the promulgation of the nation’s first heat illness prevention regulation. In 2009, California/OSHA conducted more than 3,400 inspections at worksites considered “high risk” for heat illness. The agency shut down 16 worksites that posed an imminent heat hazard and issued nearly 1,200 citations with almost $2 million in associated fines to employers that failed to protect workers from the hazards of California’s blistering heat.
The result was substantial improvement over 2005: In 2009, only one heat-related fatality, a construction worker, was confirmed.
To maintain a high level of awareness in 2010—and to the present day—the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) provides heat illness prevention training to employers throughout the state. DOSH has also published the training program, in both English and Spanish, on the agency’s heat illness prevention website at www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH/HeatIllnessInfo.html.
The training program covers what DOSH considers to be the essential components of its heat illness prevention rule, including:
The most effective and cost-efficient way to provide safety training for your workforce? Try a demo of BLR’s remarkable TrainingToday® at no cost or obligation.
Access to water. Workers exposed to potentially dangerous heat conditions must have adequate access to potable water. Employers must be sure to:
- Make at least 1 quart of water available per worker, per hour, at no charge to workers.
- Keep drinking water cool.
- Encourage workers to drink frequently and in small amounts
- Designate a worker to frequently check on and replenish water and replace cups as needed.
Access to shade. Shade provides respite from the sun’s radiant heat and must be available to workers who need it. If temperatures exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit and no shade is present at the worksite, DOSH considers it an imminent hazard situation and can shut the worksite down. Shade is considered adequate if:
- It is as close as possible to the worksite.
- Workers cast no shadow within the shaded area.
- The shade creates no additional hazard. (For example, sitting in the shade of a piece of heavy mobile equipment is considered hazardous.)
- The shaded area is cooler than surrounding outdoor areas. For some shaded areas, such as metal buildings or the interiors of vehicles, this may mean that the shaded area must be ventilated or air conditioned.
- Workers do not have to sit on bare dirt in the shaded area.
- The shaded area can comfortably accommodate 25 percent of the workers on-site at any given time. Under some circumstances, nonagricultural employers are allowed to provide alternative cooling methods, such as misters, if these methods are at least as effective as shade at cooling workers.
Try a demo of BLR’s remarkable award-winning TrainingToday® at no cost or obligation. This includes the Workplace Safety Library. Get the details.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll highlight the rest of DOSH’s heat illness prevention program, plus we’ll showcase a comprehensive online training resource full of interactive courses on more than 100 key safety topics.