Heat safety is an essential aspect of working in the landscape industry and should not be taken lightly.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that between 2021 and 2024, exposure to environmental heat resulted in an average of 48 fatalities per year, but this does not capture the number of heat-related illnesses experienced on the job, from everything from heat cramps to heat stroke.
While heat stress is more common for newer employees who haven’t been acclimatized, this doesn’t mean your veteran team members are immune to heat-related illnesses.
This year, OSHA updated its National Emphasis Program to protect employees from heat-related illnesses and encourages early intervention by employers during high heat conditions, such as when local areas are experiencing a heat wave.
With this new standard, employers in high-hazard industries must maintain a written OSHA heat illness prevention plan. Additionally, a heat safety coordinator should be responsible for monitoring conditions.
OSHA’s heat regulations are tied to specific heat index thresholds. You can track the heat index with the NISOH/OSHA heat app.
When temperatures reach 80 degrees Farenehiet, water, shade and cooling access must be available. Once temperatures hit 90 degrees Farenehiet, scheduled rest breaks and monitoring systems are required.
Factors That Increase Risk
Even if temperatures have not hit these specific triggers, it doesn’t necessarily mean heat stress will not occur.
Occupational heat exposure can occur through a number of factors including:
- Physical activity
- Air temperature
- Humidity
- Sunlight
- Heat sources (Ex., heat-absorbing road surfaces)
- Air movement
- Clothing that hampers the body’s ability to lose excess heat, such as heavy PPE
In cases where crews will be working in direct sunlight, near reflective sources like water or sites where wind is blocked, such as trenches or bowl-shaped athletic stadiums, OSHA recommends using the wet bulb globe temperature to account for temperature, humidity, radiant heat and wind for that specific job site.
To determine the metabolic heat generated from physical activity, OSHA breaks down tasks as light, moderate, heavy and very heavy. Heavy and very heavy work tasks have the highest risk of heat-related illness, which include shoveling, landscaping, felling trees, grinding and cutting, or building with brick or stone masonry.
Additionally, an individual may have personal factors that make them more susceptible to heat stress. This includes obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, a lack of physical fitness, alcohol consumption, drug usage and taking certain medications. These different conditions should be taken into account when trying to limit employees’ exposure to heat.
Strategies for Working in the Heat
While you can’t control the weather, you can use a variety of engineering and administrative controls to reduce workers’ exposure to heat. This includes having air-conditioned equipment cabs, modifying work schedules to start earlier in the day and reducing the amount of manual work for these periods of high heat.
You can also rotate job functions among workers to minimize exertion across the team. Crew leaders or managers should ensure that employees are drinking water regularly and taking breaks in a shaded spot throughout the day.
Educate your crew members on the signs and symptoms of heat stress and encourage them to report them sooner rather than later. Also, discourage drinking energy drinks as caffeine and sugar increase dehydration. Employees should stick to water and electrolyte drinks.
Remind them that thirstiness is generally not a good indicator of whether someone is experiencing heat stress or not.
Take particular care with acclimatizing new employees. Their workload should be increased by 20 percent over a period of two weeks. It’s also a good idea to have crew members keep an eye on newer employees for signs of heat stress.
If an employee is showing signs of heat stress, take them to a cooler area and place ice or cold wet towels on their head, neck, trunk, armpits and groin. If a crew member has confusion, slurred speech or becomes unconscious, these are signs of heat stroke, and 911 should be called immediately.
