build me a toolbox talk focused on heat stress

Source excerpt

Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division Oregon Administrative Rules AO 1-2025 Division 2 - (c) The shade must be located as close as practical to the areas where employees are working. - (d) Shade present during meal periods must be large enough to accommodate the number of employees on the meal period that remain onsite. - (e) If trees or other vegetation are used to provide shade, such as in orchards or forests, the thickness and shape of the shaded area must provide sufficient shadow to protect employees. - Exception: When the employer can demonstrate that providing access to shade is not safe or it interferes with the ability of employers and employees to complete the necessary work in a particular situation, for example, during high winds or when an employee is walking through range land, employers must identify and implement alternative cooling measures that provide equivalent protection such as providing cooling vests (either with fans or ice packs), water-dampened cotton clothing, or similar effective measures. The Heat Illness Prevention Plan under section (8) must include the use, care, and maintenance of the alternative cooling methods, in writing. - (4) Drinking water. Ensure that a sufficient supply of drinking water is immediately and readily available to exposed employees at all times, at no cost, when the heat index in the work area equals or exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit. - (a) Supplied drinking water must be either cool or cold, see subsection (2)(b). - (b) Supply each employee with enough drinking water to enable them to consume up to 32 ounces per hour. Employers are not required to supply the entire quantity of drinking water needed for all employees on a full shift at the beginning of the shift. Employers may begin the shift with smaller quantities of drinking water when effective procedures are established to replenish the water consumed during the shift. - (c) Employees must have ample opportunity to drink water required under this…

Source excerpt

J Division 2 AO 1-2025 Oregon Administrative Rules Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division - (a) Communication must occur in a language and vocabulary readily understood by all employees, by voice, electronic, or other equally-effective means, so that employees at the worksite can contact a supervisor at any time, when necessary. An electronic device, such as a cell phone, may be used for this purpose only if reception in the area is constant and reliable. - (b) Implement one or more of the following to promptly identify any employee suspected of experiencing heat-related illness: - (A) Regular communication with employees working alone, such as by radio, cellular phone, or other alternative means; - (B) Create a mandatory buddy system; or - (C) Implement other equally-effective means of observation or communication. - (c) Designate and equip one or more employees at each worksite as authorized to call for emergency medical services, and allow other employees to call for emergency services when designated employees are not immediately available; such a practice supplements existing requirement to ensure that emergency medical care is immediately available in all workplaces, as required by OAR [redacted phone](4), 29 CFR 1910.50, or OAR [redacted phone]. - (d) When employees work in buildings and structures that do not have a mechanical ventilation system, employers must: - (A) Directly measure the temperature and humidity in these places at the same time and location when occupied by employees to determine the current indoor heat index; - (B) Use the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's (NIOSH) Heat Safety Tool app to determine the heat index outside of the building or structure and assume that it is the same inside (See section 2 in Appendix A: Mandatory Information for Heat Illness Prevention); or - (C) If the structure is designed or otherwise known to be affected by outdoor humidity, for example, hoop houses and greenhouses in nurs…

Source excerpt

Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division Oregon Administrative Rules AO 1-2025 Division 2 ## [redacted phone] Heat Illness Prevention - (1) Scope and application. This standard applies whenever an employee performs work activities, whether in indoor or outdoor environments, where the heat index (apparent temperature) equals or exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit. - Note: When another applicable standard addresses other hazards that may be present, employers must comply with the requirements of that standard and this standard. Where the requirements of one standard are more protective than another for the same hazard, employers must follow the requirements that provide the higher level of employee protection. - (a) The following workplaces and operations are exempt from the requirements of this standard. - (A) Incidental heat exposures where an employee is not required to perform work activities for more than 15 minutes in any sixty-minute period. - (B) Exposures to heat generated from the work process -such as occurs in bakeries -is not subject to this standard. In such cases, employers must follow the requirements of OAR [redacted phone](2). - (C) All emergency operations that are directly involved in the protection of life or property, or the restoration of essential services, such as evacuation, rescue, medical, structural firefighting, law enforcement, utilities, and communications, when employees are engaged in those operations. - (D) Buildings and structures that have a mechanical ventilation system that keeps the heat index below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. - (b) The following workplaces and operations are partially exempt from certain requirements of this standard. - (A) Employers whose employees perform either 'rest' or 'light' workloads, as defined in Table 1.1 of Appendix A: Mandatory Information for Heat Illness Prevention, are exempt from the requirements of sections (3) through (10) only when the heat index is less than 90 degrees Fahrenheit. - (B) Ass…

Source excerpt

Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division Oregon Administrative Rules AO 1-2025 Division 2 - (b) The employer's procedures for complying with the requirements of this standard, including, but not limited to, the employer's responsibility to provide water, heat index information (including the risks to experiencing a heat-related illness), shade, preventative rest breaks, and access to first aid, as well as how employees can exercise their rights under this standard without fear of retaliation; - (c) The importance of frequent consumption of small quantities of water, up to 32 ounces per hour, when the work environment is hot and employees are likely to be sweating more than usual in the performance of their duties; - (d) The concept, importance, and methods of the acclimatization plan pursuant to the employer's procedures under section (8); - (e) The different types of heat illness, the common signs and symptoms of heat illness, and the appropriate first aid and emergency response to the different types of heat illness, including how heat illness may progress quickly from mild signs and symptoms to a serious and life-threatening condition; - (f) The importance for employees to immediately report to the employer, directly or through the employee's supervisor, signs and symptoms of heat illness in themselves or in others; and - (g) The effects of nonoccupational factors (drugs, alcohol, obesity, etc.) on tolerance to occupational heat stress. - (10) Training documentation. Verify compliance with section (9) by preparing and maintaining written or electronic training records that can be provided to Oregon OSHA upon request. Such records must contain the name or identification of each employee trained, the date(s) of the training, and the name of the person who conducted the training. The most recent annual training record for each affected employee must be maintained. Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 654.025(2), 654.035 & 656.726(4) Statutes Implemented: O…

Source excerpt

J Division 2 AO 1-2025 Oregon Administrative Rules Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division - (8) Heat illness prevention plan. Develop, implement, and maintain an effective heat illness prevention plan in writing. The plan must be made available at the worksite to employees and to Oregon OSHA upon request. The plan must contain at least the following information: - (a) How employees will be trained on the hazards of heat exposure and the necessary steps to prevent heat-related illnesses; - (b) How to recognize the symptoms of dehydration, and how to respond to suspected heat-related illnesses in others; - (c) How sufficient amounts of cool, potable water in work areas will be provided; - (d) How employees will be provided frequent opportunities and encouragement to stay hydrated by drinking water; - (e) How employees will be provided sufficient space to rest in a shaded area or cool climate-controlled area, and where heat-affected employees may cool off and recover when signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses are recognized; - (f) How the employer will implement the heat illness prevention rest break schedule when necessary to keep employees safe; and - (g) How the employer will implement heat acclimatization procedures for new employees or employees returning to work from extended absences of seven or more days. - (9) Supervisor and employee training. Provide heat illness prevention training to all employees, including new employees, supervisory and non-supervisory employees in a language and vocabulary readily understood, and in a manner that facilitates employee feedback. Such training must be provided annually before employees begin work that should reasonably be anticipated to expose them to the risk of heat illness, and include at least the following: - (a) The environmental and personal risk factors (for example, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, kidney disease, obesity, etc.) for heat illness that may limit an individual's toler…

Source excerpt

- (b) provide effective protection for the health and safety of workers; and - (c) provide reasonable thermal comfort for workers. - (2) At an indoor place of employment where the thermal environment is likely to be a health or safety concern to the workers, an employer, contractor or owner shall provide and maintain an appropriate and suitably located instrument for measuring the thermal conditions. - (3) If it is not reasonably practicable to control thermal conditions or if work is being performed outdoors, an employer, contractor or owner shall provide and maintain measures for: - (a) the effective protection of the health and safety of workers; and - (b) the reasonable thermal comfort of workers. - (4) Measures for the purposes set out in subsection (3) may include, but are not limited to, the following: - (a) frequent monitoring of thermal conditions; - (b) the provision of special or temporary equipment, including screens, shelters and temporary heating or cooling equipment; - (c) the provision of suitable clothing or personal protective equipment; - (d) the provision of hot or cold drinks; - (e) the use of acclimatization or other physiological procedures; - (f) the use of limited work schedules with rest and recovery periods, changes in workloads, changes in hours or other arrangements for work; - (g) frequent observation of workers by a person who is trained to recognize the symptoms of physiological stress resulting from extreme temperatures; - (h) the provision of emergency supplies for use when travelling under extremely cold or inclement weather conditions. - (5) If a worker is required to work in thermal conditions that are different from those associated with the worker's normal duties, an employer or contractor shall provide, and require the worker to use, any suitable clothing or other personal protective equipment that is necessary to protect the health and safety of the worker. 31 Dec 2020 c S-15.1 Reg 10 s6-7. ## Toi…

Source excerpt

Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division Oregon Administrative Rules AO 1-2025 Division 2 ## Appendix A to [redacted phone] - Mandatory Information for Heat Illness Prevention To protect the health and safety of employees from heat-related illnesses, employers should consider using the resources in this appendix. Please note that some resources may use temperatures in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. To convert to degrees Fahrenheit, use this formula: Fahrenheit (°F) = (Celsius x 1.8) + 32 - 1. Most heat-related illnesses affect workers who do strenuous physical activity. When workers engage in intense work, their bodies create heat. This "metabolic" heat combines with environmental heat (from temperature, sunlight, humidity, etc.) so workers' core temperature can rise to dangerous levels. To prevent a hazardous combination of environmental and metabolic heat, employers should be aware of workers' activity level. Workload can be classified as rest, light, moderate, heavy, or very heavy. - · Light: Sitting or standing with minimal arm and leg work. - · Moderate: Continuous modest intensity, such as light pushing/pulling or normal walking. - · Heavy: Intense upper body work such as carrying loads or sawing. - · Very heavy: Intense activity at an almost maximum pace.