Earthmoving News, Workplace Health & Safety

Managing heat stress on the construction site

For the construction industry, high summer temperatures can be a severe safety issue for workers. Here we have some expert advice on the risks involved and how to manage heat stress in the workplace

In the summer months temperatures have soared on construction sites across Australia.

Earthmovers & Excavators reached out to Tabitha Brennan, an occupational hygienist in Queensland, to talk about the health risks associated with heat stress on construction sites, and how employers and employees can do their part to ensure everyone remains safe at work.

“Hot weather does increase the risk of heat stress – that includes factors such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke, both of which can have severe health consequences if they’re not appropriately managed or treated,” Brennan explains.

“Essentially, as workers sweat to cool down, they lose fluids and electrolytes – that’s termed dehydration, and can lead to impaired physical performance and cognitive function.”

  • Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to receive the latest news in the earthmoving industry
  • Never miss a great deal and subscribe to our monthly magazine
  • Download a free copy of our latest digital magazine to catch up on the biggest news and developments in the earthmoving industry

Another risk is fatigue, she explains, which is often exacerbated by high temperatures, resulting in decreased concentration and slow reaction times.

“This can compromise the safety and performance of workers,” Brennan says.

“There are also a number of other factors that influence the safety and health of workers in those conditions. Heat can impair decision making and coordination. That also increases the likelihood of accidents and injuries that are not necessarily specific to heat stress, but obviously it can cause issues in other areas as well.

“On construction sites, you’ve got workers that are operating machinery and equipment, and if they’ve got impaired decision making or cognitive issues associated with their exposure, then they may injure themselves or other workers as a result of that.”

Individual factors – everybody reacts differently

Everybody reacts to heat in different ways, depending on a myriad of different factors, requiring a multi-faceted approach to managing heat stress on staff.

“It is very important for your readers to recognise that individuals react to heat differently,” Brennan explains.

“Factors might include things like acclimatisation. If you have workers that are working interstate, or they fly in and out, or they’re working internationally, acclimatisation is a big factor to consider.

“Physical fitness is another one. Workers that perhaps have a low level of physical fitness may be more susceptible to feeling the extremes of heat and can compromise their health. Age and poor general health, including some underlying health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease, can also play a big role in a person’s susceptibility to heat stress.”

Brennan also highlights illicit drug use, certain prescription medications and alcohol consumption as factors that need to be considered when it comes to how people can be affected by heat stress.

“If workers are on certain prescription medication or if they’ve been consuming alcohol – even the night before – these can also lead to impairment of the body’s ability to regulate its core temperature and maintain good hydration,” she says.

“Construction is a very dynamic situation, and we also need to look at the different layouts and locations of sites.

“Some construction sites will be in isolated work areas, so they may lack access to rest areas, shady areas for people to cool off and hydration facilities. The lack of all these elevates the risk to workers in these environments. So, they’re things to consider as well.”

An emergency plan needs to be in place for worksites so employees know what to do if there is a heat-related medical emergency. Image: kamonrat/stock.adobe.com

Task and environmental factors

Rising temperatures and increased exposure to sunlight can also impact the reliability of machinery on construction sites, not just the workers.

“In high temperatures, machinery and equipment can malfunction, and workers might be relying on equipment that they’re operating in – such as heavy mobile plant machinery – for air conditioning to maintain a cool cabin workspace for them,” Brennan explains.

“If work equipment is susceptible to overheating and breaks down, that may place a worker at risk – it’s vital to ensure that air conditioning and cooling systems are regularly inspected and maintained in accordance with manufacturer’s specifications.

“In some situations, it also may be necessary to have a backup plan if air conditioning or cooling systems fail.”

Workers should be trained around and be aware of radiant heat, she adds.

“Obviously, when operating mobile plant machinery, the engines get hot. They’re also exposed to the sun, so the equipment itself can get hot,” she says.

“It is important that workers are aware of what radiant heat sources are, and that the machinery can emit this heat – so the machines can obviously significantly increase the surrounding temperature, and that poses additional risk to workers.

“There are workers that may be operating in the cabin, but then there are also probably workers outside on the ground, in direct heat and interaction with the mobile plant.”

If there is a high volume of equipment and limited airflow in certain areas, that also needs to be taken into consideration, Brennan says.

“Workplaces should allow for regular breaks in well-ventilated areas, and, again, training workers to identify heat stress symptoms, reporting any concerns to their supervisors or managers” she says.

“Another thing for employers to consider is possibly rotating workers to limit the time spent in those high-risk environments and ensure that everyone has adequate opportunity to rest and recover from any heat exposure.”

Health outcomes

Ultimately, failing to manage and control the exposure for workers in hot weather is going to lead to poor health outcomes.

“The result can be severe health complications, and some of these can be potentially fatal,” Brennan explains.

“Also, you’ve got a loss in productivity and then there’s the potential financial implications as well – there may be fines from the regulator if they’re found to be failing to control exposure to workers in the workplace.”

Employers need to foster a proactive approach when managing exposure to a hot working environment, Brennan says.

“There is a duty of care to their workers to ensure that the risk to health and safety is as low as reasonably practicable,” she says.

“Assessing the risk of heat related illness requires a very dynamic and adaptive approach, and I say that because they need to tailor their approach to the specific work environment and then a number of varying factors.

“It’s important that they don’t just have a one-dimensional approach. They need to be assessing their work environment, and they need to apply any different factors that are relevant to them in terms of how they control exposure.

“Effective heat stress management involves a broader range of considerations beyond air temperature – people think it’s just about the temperature.

“Understanding that it’s not just about that ensures a more comprehensive and effective approach to mitigating heat related risks in the workplace.”

As heat stress is a physical hazard, it can’t be confined to a predefined safe or unsafe limit – because there’s a multitude of factors that need to be involved:

  •  the nature of the work
  •  environmental conditions
  •  the machinery on site
  •  the number of people on site
  •  level of sunlight and airflow
  •  humidity.

“All of these factors are things to consider, along with individual worker characteristics,” Brennan adds.

Heat stress can lead to decreased concentration and lower reaction times. Image: Boonterm/adobe.stock.com

Heat stress calculator

Terms such as heat stress indices shouldn’t be interpreted as an absolute safe or unsafe threshold, Brennan explains. But can be used as guidance to inform a risk assessment.

“On the worksafe.qld.gov.au website, there is a free heat stress calculator, and this is a basic calculator or a tool that can be used to identify the risk factors of heat related illness,” she says.

“It’s not only accessible to employers, but employees can access it too – it can be used to look at all of those varying factors, and you can make an informed decision well before a situation occurs.

“You can even put anticipated factors in there. You can add information from the BoM [Bureau of Meteorology] website, such as seasonal information and temperature forecasts – that information can be used to pre-empt what may happen the next day and then you can develop a proactive approach as to what you may and may not do, and the controls that will work and be appropriate.”

Brennan highlights additional resources available on the Work Health and Safety Queensland website as well as from SafeWork Australia and the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH).

“They’ve got some really great guides that people can access, read and utilise some of the tools in there to develop their risk assessments and their safety and health management systems,” she says.

Brennan emphasises the importance of employee training and communication in promoting and implementing effective heat stress strategies.

“Employers do need to train and educate their workers regularly – consulting workers and involving them in developing these really effective and appropriate controls is imperative,” she says.

“They need to communicate with the workers daily. They need to be re-evaluating the control measures in place and they need to be encouraging workers to report when those conditions deteriorate.

“It is really important for an emergency management plan that if workers do experience heat exposure or they are affected, that they are trained to recognise the symptoms, and in the event that that does happen, that they are at least able to administer some level of first aid until medical help or medical intervention arrives. This should form an integral part of their safety protocols.”

Brennan highlights the importance of workers on construction sites being proactive on issues like heat stress.

“It’s important for workers to have that preparedness and awareness to ensure their own personal safety and wellbeing when they’re working in hot weather,” she says.

“Recognising their own personal signs of heat stress and not hesitating to raise concern about hot work or conditions where they’re working in heat is vital.

“It’s also really important that, for employees, there is open dialogue with their supervisors, and that they’re having conversations with their workmates – it’s crucial to maintain a safe work environment.”

Brennan says employees need to familiarise themselves with and understand the emergency management plan. That includes understanding what the heat-related emergency procedure looks like, being able to identify what the appropriate contacts are in certain situations and learn the necessary first aid treatment to administer while they’re waiting for professional medical help.

“That’s a big part of it, and it should be a continuous education for employees,” she says.

“Another couple of take-homes for employees would be to make sure that they’re taking regular breaks, that they’re hydrated and that they’re in shaded or cooler areas, when possible, to minimise heat exposure and to allow their body to recover.

“It’s also important that workers advocate for appropriate control measures so they can protect themselves and their workmates.”

The important take-home for employers is the need to create a system and plan for working in such conditions, Brennan adds.

“If they need further advice or guidance, there are free resources on the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland website – worksafe.qld.gov.au – and they can access the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH) website as well, where they can search for a consultant who has the competency and experience to be able to provide them with that guidance if they need,” she explains.

“They can also contact their local regulator for further guidance.”

To access the heat stress calculator, go to the ‘managing exposure’ section on www.worksafe.qld.gov.au. For more information, guidance, and resources visit www.worksafe.qld.gov.au

Visit www.aioh.org.au to contact or gain more information from the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH).

Access a guide for managing the risks of working in heat’ on the Safe Work Australia website: www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au

Send this to a friend