OSHA Takes the Heat Seriously and You Should, Too

I am in Effingham, Illinois today meeting with Meyer Oil, a great company that owns Mach 1 gas stations and convenience stores in central and southern Illinois. It will be 94 degrees here, today. When the weather gets this high, I think of OSHA’s campaign to prevent heat-related illness – especially for outside workers. If your employees work outdoors, spend some time on OSHA’s website learning about steps you can take to prevent heat-related illness, how to diagnose it, and how to respond if one of your workers becomes overheated.

OSHA even has an app that allows workers and supervisors to calculate the heat index for their worksite and display the risk level to outdoor workers. I have this app on my phone (for my clients, not because my employees work outside) and it is simple to use and very valuable. The app even sends reminders about protective measures as the temperature starts to rise, like drinking enough fluids, scheduling rest breaks, gradually building up the workload for new workers, training on heat illness signs and symptoms, and monitoring each other for signs of heat-related illness. You can download the app here.

Of course, you can learn more about how OSHA governs your workplace by bouncing around Austin Legal’s OHSA pages on its website by clicking here.

Matt Austin is a Columbus, Ohio employment lawyer who owns Austin Legal, LLC, a boutique law firm with offices in central and northeast Ohio that limits its representation to employers dealing with labor, employment, and OSHA matters. Matt can be reached by email at Matt.Austin@Austin-Legal.com or by phone at 614.285.5342.