Avoiding Heat Illness
Happy summer everyone!
Lots of people enjoy the nice warm weather, but at some point, the heat can get quite overwhelming. This becomes especially apparent while working in many jobs in the industrial sector.
What is Heat Illness?
Wherever you work, around this time of year, you can expect to feel a little uncomfortable at a certain level of heat, but how much is too much? Once the human body is no longer able to condition itself to intense heat, it is subject to what is called “heat illness”. This term also has many variations within it, but we will refer to them all as “heat illness” for the remainder of this post.
What Can We Do to Prevent It?
Recently, here at Forge, we posted a video on our Facebook page that highlighted some tips on how to beat the heat. (Watch that video here!) While these tips can be very useful in preventing heat illness, nothing is ever completely foolproof. Taking precautions against things like heat illness is great, but don’t assume that since you took precautions that you are now invincible. Heat illness is always something to stay vigilant about.
That’s why today, we decided that it would be a good idea to make people aware of the signs of heat illness. No matter how unlikely this may seem, heat illness is very serious, and should not be taken lightly.
What Are the Symptoms?
Here are many of the symptoms of heat illness. Use this information to recognize what is happening before it potentially gets worse for you or another coworker:
- Loss of consciousness
- Abnormal thinking or behavior
- Slurred speech
- Seizures
- Headache
- Weakness or dizziness
- Elevated body temperature
If you or a coworker experience any of these symptoms, and you fear it might be heat illness, contact your supervisor right away. Some of these symptoms, like loss of consciousness, should result in a direct call to 911 as soon as possible.
Now What?
This article wasn’t written to scare you. We want our employees, as well as everyone else to be safe during this incredibly hot summer. Awareness is the first step in preventing workplace accidents involving heat illness, so keep these in mind and be prepared on your next hot day!
