Safety & Maintenance
The Importance of Staying Cool at Work
Plant managers, building owners, and facility operators must have an effective cooling strategy in place to protect their workers from extreme heat exposure and its consequences. By Anna Claire Howard, Editor, IMD
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t seems like no matter where you live in the country right now, we are all experiencing this historic heat wave. While some are fortunate to work in climatecontrolled offices or the comfort of our own homes, the manufacturing industry has typically not been able to slow down or work remotely. And with heat records continuing to be broken as the result of a “heat dome” — a persistent region of high pressure trapping heat over the area — it’s vital that plant teams have plans in place to beat the heat.
Dangers of Overheating Heat-related illnesses and injuries are an all-too-real concern when it comes to employee safety, especially in the physically demanding nature of manufacturing. In
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fact, radiation, convection, and conduction stop working when the ambient temperature of the surrounding air is 95 degrees F or higher; leaving evaporation as the only option left to cool the human body. This risk combined with the record-breaking temperatures led the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to increase the monitoring and investigation of heat-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. Additionally, OSHA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) for heat injury and illness prevention in indoor and outdoor work environments. These are the first steps toward establishing a federal heat standard in the United States.
