No longer confined by calendar dates, seasonal realities let us know that we are now squarely in the season where field staff will be impacted by both ambient heat and (potentially) wildfire smoke. Use these four tips to lessen the dangers.
- Ensure that along with water and the breaks required to consume it, you are providing outside field workers with shade to rest and consume water in. This will be trickier in some areas and may require pop-up tents or other flexible solutions.
- Confirm seasonal workers onboarding during hot seasons are safely acclimated to the job duties. Supervisors or crewmates should be checking in with each other during extended work in heat.
- For wildfire smoke, verify that workers you need or intend to work during times when filtering facepiece respirators are required are fit-tested before the season, so no scrambling is needed when a duration of heavy smoke exposure starts.
- Plan ahead and consider what tasks and workgroups can be flexed to indoor work for periods of heavy smoke. Pre-planning this can help avoid indecision when you must decide what to do with workgroups during times of increased exposure.
Bonus tip – it’s a poster!
Share this poster on protecting workers from heat stress from our friends at NIOSH.