As we move into the summer months it is time for all contractors to consider implementing a heat illness prevention program. There have been increasing reports of heat illnesses in the workplace. Employees, who work in a high heat index environment, are vulnerable to various heat related illnesses. At their worse, heat illnesses can result in the death of the employee. Back in 2011, OSHA instituted a program to make employers aware of the dangers of working in a high heat index environment. Since then there have been numerous OSHA citations of employers for heat related illnesses. The increase in reported cases can partially be attributed to the new OSHA reporting rules that now require reporting the hospitalization for treatment of even one employee (the old rule was three employees) for treatment. Prior to this reports of heat illness injuries were pretty much limited to fatalities, but with the change of rules employers must report employees who are hospitalized for treatment of heat related illnesses.
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