OSHA’s Beat the Heat Contest to Further Temperature Hazard Prevention

Every year companies face challenges during the summer related directly to temperature and heat based injuries, with dozens of employees facing death and severe heat related illnesses every year in the United States. Just last year there were almost 2,000 reported injuries and illnesses related to environmental heat. States in the southwestern United States often face average summer temperatures well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, subjecting construction and other outdoor industries to dangerous conditions. 

Employers all over the country have already started preparing for the start of summer, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has developed several educational resources, regulations, and aids to enhance employee safety. Some techniques OSHA has used to help prevent employee related heat injuries while at work include crafting temperature-illness prevention plans, teaching materials, and ensuring workers have access to things like shade and water. This year OSHA has also launched a ‘Beat the Heat’ contest to incentivize and reward industries taking the necessary steps to prevent employee injuries. 

The ‘Beat the Heat’ Contest

The ‘Beat the Heat’ Contest was started by OSHA this year to uncover more resources and further raise awareness of the risks employees and employers will face this summer. For the contest employers will submit any tools and resources they are implementing to contribute to employee education and work safety regarding heat hazards. The purpose of the contents is industry and public awareness related to the dangers of excessive heat exposure, and to motivate all entities to prevent heat illnesses from occurring. 

A panel of OSHA and federal agency workers will form a judgment panel to decide on a winner of the contest. All members of the panel will have some expertise in relevant heat related subject matter and judge based on the how well the submissions:

• Identify heat risk to workers

• Provide informative messages

• Utilize creative communication methods

• Create engagement with employers, employees, and relevant stakeholders to work together forming effective communications concerning the hazardous risks of heat exposure in the workplace. 

• Apply effective communication and message strategies to be accessible and easily understood by all workers, employers, and relevant stakeholders. 

• Consider the geographic significance of the employment industry sector

Award Categories will include:

• Most Innovative

• Most Creative

• Boldest Message

• Best Non-English Submission

• Highlighting Indoor Heat Hazards

• Highlighting Young Workers

The employee industries will have until June 9, 2023 to submit their entries into the contest, and winners will be determined shortly thereafter. 

Heat-Illness Resources and Education

Heat stress is one of the most commonly reported injuries by workers exposed to extreme heat conditions on the job. Heat stress can result in a variety of complications including heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, and heat rashes. High temperatures can also increase the risk of workplace accidents by causing sweaty palms, foggy protective eyewear, and disorientation. Another commonly reported injury is a variety of surface burns from the sun, and from contact with metal surfaces left in direct sunlight. 

Many workers and industries have exposed areas of risk when discussing heat related illnesses and injury. Workers at risk of heat stress include industries that contact the outdoors including hot environments including firefighters, bakeries, farmers, construction workers, miners, boiler room technicians, factory employees, and many others. 

These workers are at a much higher risk when they are overweight, over the age of 65, have heart disease, have high blood pressure, or take medications that may be affected by extreme heat exposure. 

Types of Heat Related Illnesses 

• Heat Stroke

• The most serious heat-related illness that occurs when the body can no longer control its temperature. The body’s temperature will continue to rise until the sweating mechanism fails and the body is unable to cool down, causing permanent disability or death if the person is left untreated. 

• Heat Exhaustion

• The body’s response to excessive loss of water and salt, most likely through excessive sweating. This will most commonly affect the elderly and people with underlying health conditions that are working in hot environments. 

• Rhabdomyolysis

• A medical condition associated with heat stress and prolonged physical exertion in high temperatures. Rhabdo causes the rapid breakdown of and death of muscle releasing large quantities of electrolytes and protein into the bloodstream. This condition can result in irregular heart rhythms, seizures, and kidney damage.

• Heat Syncope

• A fainting episode or unusual dizziness often associated with standing too long or sudden elevation changes of the head above the body. Factors that can exacerbate this condition are dehydration and lack of acclimatization. 

• Heat Cramps

• Usually affect individuals who often sweat profusely during physical exertion or strenuous activity. Sweating depletes the body’s salt and moisture levels creating painful muscle cramps, also an indication of the early stages of heat exhaustion.

• Heat Rash

• A skin irritation caused by excessive sweating during high temperatures and humid conditions. 

All of these conditions should be completely addressed by employer heat prevention plans, and all employees should be fully educated about the risks and early symptom signs related to each heat related illness. 

Heat-Illness Prevention Methods

Planning and supervision are two factors that can significantly reduce heat related illness and injury to employees while at work. Employers should develop a written plan to prevent heat-illnesses from happening so employees have the highest level of safety and awareness.

Prevention Plans should include:

• Who will provide daily oversight?

• How will new workers develop heat tolerance?

• Temporary workers may be more susceptible to heat and require closer supervision.

• Workers returning from leave  (more than two weeks) may be at increased risk.

• How will the employer ensure first aid is adequate and the protocol for summoning medical assistance in situations beyond first-aid is effective?

• How will heat stress be measured?

• How to respond to the National Weather Service’ heat advisories?

• How to determine if the total heat stress is hazardous?

• What training will be provided to workers and supervisors?

Heat conditions can change rapidly and must require day-to-day supervision to ensure all the policies and prevention plans effectively do their job to benefit employees. Supervisory individuals at a work site should be responsible for constantly monitoring and implementing employer heat plans as conditions change throughout the day, and ideally the individual should also be on site where the workers are. 

CORE Liability Protections in Workplace Health and Safety

What is your multinational company’s greatest H&S liability?

You may be surprised to learn it is likely your office workforce. There are billions of dollars in costs associated with musculoskeletal disorders, repetitive motion disorders, auto accidents, infectious disease, along with other risks. There is only one EHS regulatory compliance resource in the marketplace that was developed exclusively for commercial offices and retail operations, which addresses these risks – it is known as CORE prepared by convergence consulting LLC. 

CORE is a suite of international regulatory compliance tools; EHS legal registers, audit checklists and compliance calendars for approximately 70 countries presented in English and the national language. With CORE, you no longer need to answer hundreds of screening questions to customize your EHS legal register or checklist for your office or store locations. Instead, CORE legal registers and checklists present only EHS legislation applicable to offices and stores.

To learn more see (EHS Compliance Tools) or contact cchiles@cc-global.com for more information.

Train Derailment in Ohio Threatens State’s Environmental Health

A massive ecological disaster is currently underway in East Palestine Ohio after a severe train derailment releases a variety of different chemicals into the environment. Scientists have been able to identify several of these chemicals released from the train cars including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, and isobutylene. 

Health officials are on high alert because many of the harmful chemicals have been known to cause a variety of harm to human health including irritation, breathing difficulties, cancer, and eye damage. The alarm continues to rise as the full breadth of the disaster continues to unfold, raising major concerns about the severity of exposure and contamination resulting from the incident. 

After the initial derailment of the 150 car freight train occurred, authorities decided to burn some of the spilled chemicals to avoid any potential explosions. The chemical burning has sparked additional concerns regarding human and environmental health for the greater portion of eastern Ohio, as the contaminants have now been observed entering the local atmosphere and essential resources like waterways and nearby farms.  

5 Toxic Chemicals Identified Around Derailment

Residents of the Palestine Ohio area have been told it is safe to return home after the initial assessments of the impacted area, however questions still remain over the extent of exposure to the region’s resources and additional safety concerns surrounding the chemical burning. Scientists are working to determine the level of exposure to the soil, air, and water. They have already been able to identify at least 5 different contaminants released by the train derailment. 

1. Vinyl Chloride: This compound is a known carcinogen, observable as a colorless flammable gas used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) components. PVC is the plastic material used in many different types of packing materials, electronics, medical supplies, and construction products. Extended exposure to vinyl chloride can result in drowsiness, disorientation, extremity numbing, nausea, and eventually cancer. This chemical is also a culprit of severe eye and skin irritation, among many of the initial reports from affecting individuals. Vinyl chloride has also been recorded causing extensive liver damages to those with long term exposure able to seep into soil and pollute groundwater resources. 

2. Butyl acrylate: This colorless liquid chemical is also used to produce various types of plastics, polymers, resins, and material coatings. Butyl acrylate is colorless with a fruity odor causing irritation to the eyes, skin, and respiratory tracts after long exposures. 

3. Isobutylene: A colorless gas utilized in plastic production for packing materials and resins. Exposure to isobutylene causes dizziness and headaches.The shipping company transporting this company reported in an inventory briefing that the cells carrying this chemical had no breaches, although it has still been observed in the scientist’s environmental assessment surveys. 

4. Ethylene glycol: A synthetic compound used in components of paint, ink, hydraulic brake fluid, and antifreeze compounds. Exposure to ethylene glycol has been recorded causing irritation to eyes, skin, and upper respiratory tracts. 

5. Ethylhexyl acrylate: This colorless liquid is used to produce plastics and polymer compounds. Any person exposed can experience irritation to their eyes and skin as well as nausea and sore throats. 

Experts Criticize Disaster Response

Most of the country has been kept in the dark regarding the massive derailment, and many experts are now highly skeptical concerning the actual response from county officials and site surveys. The derailment was overshadowed in the news by sightings of rogue balloons thought to be of Chinese origin over the continental USA, and the superbowl. As more information and public highlighting of the events happening in the Ohio town reach the rest of the country, people are demanding more cohesive explanations regarding how officials are handling the spill. 

So far the conclusions are unsure if officials have done enough to study the effects and potential concerns for immediate and long term impacts the chemical spill could pose to human and environmental health. Evidently there has been a lot of testing and safety discussions since the initial accident, however there has not been any formal reports outlining the comprehensive actions taken to address the contamination concerns and consequences. 

Other expert scientists have also drawn concerns to the potential pollutants that may have been created as a byproduct of the derailment and fire. When some of the identified chemicals are burned they can produce byproducts known as dioxins which are extremely harmful and toxic substances. 

Ohio’s Environmental Protection Agency has stated they will be continuing to monitor and survey the quality of Palestine’s air, soil, and water however they have not identified if they will also be testing for the harmful chemical byproducts adding to further criticism. 

The dioxins are heavy sticky compounds able to settle on people’s properties and tracked inside their homes, creating health hazards after being inhaled or ingested. These toxic compounds by products also do not break down easily and can sometimes persist for decades.

Environmental Damages

Initial estimates have been updated to suggest the freight train derailment is responsible for more than 44,000 animal deaths. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) estimates the deaths account for more than 38,000 minnows, plus more than 5,000 additional species that include fish, amphibians, crayfish, and macroinvertebrates. 

Shortly after the derailment officials declared it unsafe to enter waterways in the area unless prepared with specialized protective gear and equipment. Residents reported hundreds if not thousands of fish washing up on the shores of the rivers and streams further downstream from the incident, although officials have observed fish returning to the initial areas closer to where the incident happened. 

Hazardous trains are also required to be fitted with specialized automatic braking systems that would allow trains to brake faster potentially reducing the extent of damage a derailment can cause. Companies are always looking for ways to add more cars to their trains, inadvertently increasing the risk of derailment.

Progress Continues on Africa’s “Great Green Wall”

Climate change has already been observed to have resulting impacts in many regions of the world, including rising sea levels, droughts, famine, increased natural disaster frequency, and expansion of Sahara desert-like conditions across Africa’s plains. 

The Sahara has been gradually contributing to the degradation of surrounding landscapes as global temperatures, and storms force its expansion into the Sahel region along the desert’s southern border. The Sahel region is home to more than 500 million people at a direct risk of diminishing habitable landscapes. Rising atmospheric temperatures, wind storms, and urban expansion are all to blame for the encroaching sands.

Unfortunately, as the Sahara expands southward, it is also consuming limited habitable lands, resources, and agricultural regions and subjugating its populations to increased hardships. Expert climatologists, environmentalists, and botanists gathered to develop and implement a plan to reverse the Sahara expansion and reclaim the land’s vital resources.  

The Great Green Wall Objectives

The Great Green Wall plan was originally launched in 2007 by the African Union. This enormous task involves the cooperation of 22 countries spanning more than 8,000 kilometers across the African continent. The project has been marketed as a living symbol of hope, striving to become the largest living structure on the planet by 2030. 

Foreign investments have also been involved in large aspects of the project relying on key partnerships between the African Union Commission, the Pan African Agency, and various international contributions. 

The project's overarching goals include restoring more than 100 million hectares of degraded land along the desert’s southern border. By restoring that region, the project will sequester approximately 250 million tons of carbon and create over 10 million green jobs in the Sahel region of impacted countries. 

Restore and acquire fertile land, one of Earth’s most valuable resources. 

• Generate economic opportunities for younger generations and support those already established in the urbanizing countries. 

• Provide food security for millions of people who are already facing struggles associated with food shortages, drought, and famine. 

• Establish climate resilience in the key Sahara/Sahel region, where climate change has already forced temperatures to rise faster than anywhere else on Earth 

• Create a new, natural world wonder that spans across the 8 000 kilometer region. 

With the finite plans in place and progress already well underway, many additional public campaigns have also aided fundraising efforts and overall contributions. The urgent initiative aims for a complete timeline of 2030 by instilling a global wide movement centering the Great Green Wall as a symbol of hope for impacted communities. 

The wall's completion by 2030 will have significant welfare impacts on global climate change, food security, and resource migration conflicts. Scientists hope the wall will become a lasting partnership of man and nature working together to provide resources and habitation for many generations. 

Planning The Great Green Wall

Installation for the Great Green Wall was originally planned to span from the Djibouti region in the east to Senegal in the west. The restoration area belt was expected to be approximately 15 kilometers wide, spanning the massive 8,000 kilometers across the Sahara’s southern border. 

Each of the involved countries has specific objectives attached to its section as it relates to their regional necessities. Using an integrated landscape approach has allowed local context to be applied to the wall’s development, addressing land degradation, climate change mitigations, biodiversity, and forestry efforts. Other goals slated by impacted counties include reducing erosion, creating green jobs, increasing crop yields, and improving the number of arable areas for agricultural development. 

Employee Safety Moving to Digital EHS Platforms

Recent reports by the National Safety Council (NSC) suggest environmental, health, and safety (EHS) software can significantly enhance employee safety operations, preventing severe injuries and fatalities while on the job. 

EHS software uses various platforms, mobile applications, and technologies that can be applied to virtually any workplace. The NSC report was released as it continues its Work to Zero initiative designed to eliminate workplace fatalities using technology. 

NSC Work to Zero Initiative 

The National Safety Council decided to employ a Work to Zero Initiative to prevent all workplace fatalities by the year 2050 with new incorporations of various technologies. Thousands of workers continue to die each year in the national workforce prompting experts at the NSC to innovate and solve complicated workplace safety issues. 

Experts agree that with emerging technologies, the thousands of worker fatalities can be eliminated by increasing safety protocols and protecting employees. 

The NSC approach is designed off on three guiding principles:

• Research

• Experts will research and analyze the most effective technologies that can solve workplace safety problems and how those technologies can be implemented in the workplace. 

• Education

• Education on the new technologies and their implementation will be provided to the employees and employer to ensure the correct adaptation and encourage adoption within industries. 

• Partnerships 

• Continue to foster stakeholder partnerships to strengthen everyone’s work, safety, implementation, and protocol. 

The critical importance of partnerships will continue to foster growth and sharing across multiple industries to achieve the zero fatality goal by 2050. With cross-industry communication and sharing, more protocols, technologies, and integration methods will positively impact employees everywhere.

Current advisory boards for the Work to Zero Initiative are actively assessing new technologies for implementation, and many experts agree the way to zero fatalities is through user-friendly mobile applications, software, and safety protocols that can be accessed at the swipe of a finger. Most of the modern workforce has access to mobile devices like cell phones, laptops, and tablets, allowing much greater access to safety technologies than ever before. 

Advantages of Software and Mobile Applications

The National Safety Council has continuously released reports analyzing new technologies and ways they can be implemented for employee safety. Their most recent report, “Managing Risks with EHS Software and Mobile Applications,” built upon earlier reports assessing mapping technologies and solutions for reducing severe workplace injuries and fatalities. 

The new white paper report discovered many advantageous reasons and ways employers can utilize EHS mobile applications and software in their work towards zero by 2050. EHS mobile applications can provide deeper safety insights by helping employees track and monitor their safety compliance while encouraging continually evolving safety procedures as companies change. Mobile delivery of safety information also allows users to be notified when updates are cataloged so they can maintain the most current safety information about their workplace. Having up-to-date delivery of new safety information will allow employers to ensure compliance with mandates and restrictions applied within their industries. 

As more users transfer to mobile software applications to acquire and reference safety materials, the cost savings for overhead expenditures will also decrease. Access and maintenance of these systems can all be completed remotely, reducing company costs and mitigating excess spending involved with employee compensation, recruitment, and illness. The final major benefit of utilizing mobile EHS software will finally allow entire companies to become streamlined in their safety protocols. The EHS software can be accessed by anyone at the company keeping employees, employers, and contractors on the same page regarding specific safety instructions. 

Benefits of EHS Mobile Application Software

• Deeper Safety Insights

• Employers can track, monitor, and evolve safety information by utilizing centralized EHS maintenance system data. 

• Ensure Regulation Compliance

• EHS platforms utilize cloud-based storage allowing users to stay up-to-date on policy modifications, specific safety instructions, and relevant policies. The easy access provided by mobile users will also ensure compliance with safety protocols among users. 

• Cost Savings

• Implementing EHS mobile software will mitigate any excess expenditures associated with employee compensation, recruitment, and illness. 

• Streamlined Policy

• Easy access to EHS software by mobile devices, laptops, and tablets will streamline safety information and provide accurate time safety alerts while in the workplace. 

While implementing new environmental, health, and safety software tools do provide outstanding benefits to the average workplace, several specific instances may conflict within the industry. 

Disadvantages of Software and Mobile Applications

Overarching disadvantages to this type of safety software do bear some difficulties for large industries that require specific customization of their EHS software, and also the limitations of developing any comprehensive EHS protocols that would apply to smaller companies. 

To ensure employees are receiving a sufficient level of technical expertise, they must be able to select software with technical support and resources to operate safely. 

Currently, the EHS software is still in earlier developmental stages, wielding only about an 8 percent adoption of artificial intelligence (A.I.) within their programming. The overwhelming consensus in the utilization aspect of EHS in the workplace by almost 67 percent agree that A.I. should be an integral focus to evolve this technology within the following year. 

After this kind of employee safety technological tool's initial rollouts, the larger industries created highly customized implementation projects to meet their needs. Smaller companies were more likely to select modular implementations that provided standard EHS protocols at a lower cost. The divergence of the two types of industry created some disadvantages as large companies must spend extended amounts of time and money to achieve adequate EHS programs that they can utilize. However, on the other side of the equation, smaller companies are forced to acquire more comprehensive programs that may not precisely fit their company’s needs but come at a more affordable cost.  

Improving EHS Workflow Through Digitization

As the EHS mobile applications and software continue to be improved and implemented across various workplaces and industries, the NSC’s goal is continually chasing zero employee fatalities over the next 25 years. It is encouraging to see many different types of EHS software being hosted by many vendors.

These EHS tools are extremely powerful and, if used correctly, can significantly limit errors, increase data solutions, streamline workflows, and protect employees worldwide.