Heat stress on the job can pose serious health issues, but a new toolkit is aimed at preventing heat-related illness among Ontario workers.
Developed by researcher Sandra Dorman at Sudbury’s Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH), in partnership with the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW), the toolkit includes a number of educational resources designed to educate workers about heat stress and its impact, along with how to prevent it.
"Although heat can cause serious acute injuries like heat exhaustion and heat stroke, heat stress is also considered an occupational illness because regular exposure can lead to serious health conditions in the long term,” said Dorman, CROSH’s director and a professor in Laurentian University’s School of Kinesiology & Health Sciences, in a news release.
“An estimated 220 Canadians die annually from occupational heat stress, and an estimated 15 per cent of workers who frequently work under heat stress develop a heat illness, predominantly kidney disease.
“Having a Heat Illness Prevention Plan is crucial, not only to prevent immediate injuries from heat strain but also to mitigate future health risks.”
Heat stress occurs when the body is unable to get rid of excess heat, resulting in an elevated heart rate and core body temperature, often leading to heat-related illness.
As temperatures rise due to climate change, the incidence of heat-related illness across sectors is expected to increase, CROSH noted.
Resources in the toolkit include educational videos, promotional posters, reference guides, and a heat stress calculator, among other items.
All are free to use and available on the OHCOW website.
Dorman’s research focuses on health promotion and disease prevention in the occupational setting, the release noted, and she’s spent the last year researching heat stress and its impact on worker productivity and health.
That includes looking at wearable devices to monitor heat stress, which she said can be useful in monitoring things like heart rate and core temperature.
