Responding to Heat Illness

Hi, I'm Pete Rice. I'm a Safety Professional. This is the third video in ClickSafety.com's Heat Illness series: How to Respond to Heat Illness Symptoms. Last time, we spoke about the signs and symptoms associated with Heat Illness, focusing on Heat Exhaustion and the very serious condition called Heat Stroke. In today's topic, we're going to talk about what you should, or what you could do if a co-worker was having signs and symptoms of Heat Illness. Let's start off with a question: let's say there is a worker on your crew who has signs of Heat Exhaustion, which is sweaty, weak, has a headache. Now take a moment & think about what you should or you could do? 1) Notify the supervisor - your co-worker needs medical help; 2) Move the person to a cooler place to rest in the shade & don't leave her alone; 3) Little by little, give your co-worker water, 4) Loosen tight clothing and help cool the person, fan them with cool air; 5) Put ice packs on the groin or under arms and soak his/her clothing with cool water. Also, it is critically important to know how to communicate with the emergency responders. Know how you're going to contact emergency responders - is it going to be through your supervisor, or your radio, or your cell phone? When you contact the emergency responders, be prepared to describe the symptoms and know how to describe your exact location so they can find you quickly. Don't wait, because Heat Illness and Heat Exhaustion can quickly become more dangerous. Be alert to unusual behavior - if your co-workers seem confused, or are sitting by themselves or walking around aimlessly, ask them if they are ok! If they seem to be acting strangely, they may have Heat Stroke, so contact your supervisor. Now to review how we would respond to Heat Illness, you're going to practice what you should do if someone is having symptoms of Heat Exhaustion. Let's say you're working with Frank, a co-worker, and you notice he is sweaty & confused. He looks disoriented and he can't seem to concentrate on his work. Take a moment think about what you would do... You should: call the supervisor and ask for medical help; move the person - Frank - to a cooler place to rest in the shade; stay with the person; give Frank water as long as he was not losing consciousness or vomiting; loosen Frank's clothing a little bit and help cool Frank by fanning him, placing ice packs on his groin or under his arms where there is good blood flow; soak Frank's clothing with cool water. Now we have learned how we would respond if someone develops Heat Illness, specifically Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke, but the best strategy is always prevention. Next toolbox talk, we're going to talk about how to prevent Heat Illness and Heat Exhaustion.