Cal-OSHA Heat Stress Policy 2015

When Cal/OSHA incorporated new requirements to its Heat Illness Prevention Regulation, in May of 2015, I rewrote my company’s Heat Stress chapter template that we used to write custom policies to meet third party auditors like ISNetworld, Veriforce, and Browz.

The new components were the following:

• plan requirements
• shade
• drinking water
• high heat procedures
• emergency response
• acclimatization
• training

You can download and read the entire policy or the examples I included below to see how I addressed Cal/OSHA’s requirements.

Acclimatization

Employees new to the heat stress for their first 14 days and all employees during a heat wave will be more closely monitored and given a lessened workload. A heat wave is any day where the predicted high temperature is at least 80°F and 10°F higher than the average high daily temperature for the five previous days.

Drinking Water

Enough refreshing, fresh, pure and cool potable water will be easily accessible, freely provided to employees, and replenished so it never runs out¾at least one quart per person each hour. The water will be as close to the employee as practicable, not just with any designated shade.

Supervisors will encourage employees to drink water frequently by explaining its importance, especially when the temperature increases.

High Heat

When the temperature reaches 95°F, high heat precautions demand observation for heat illness symptoms, designating people to call emergency services, pre-shift meetings, and preventative cool-down rest periods.

Supervisors can directly observe groups of 20 workers or less. When there are more than 20 workers, workers will be designated a buddy who is responsible for observing each other. A supervisor will regularly and frequently contact any lone workers by phone or radio with reliable reception. Any other equally effective observation method utilized will be documented with the procedure and reason why it is effective noted.

A small group of employees, at least one per crew, will be designated as responsible for calling emergency services when necessary.

Brief pre-shift meetings will be held for all workers that review high heat procedures.

A 10-minute, preventative, cool down rest period will occur every two hours where workers have to stop working and rest in the shade. These breaks can coincide with other scheduled breaks, like meals, without being taken separately. They will continue into any overtime work with a 10-minute break at the end of the eighth hour and another break at the end of the tenth hour.

Emergency Response

Emergency medical services will be provided as quickly as possible if a worker suffers from heat illness.

All employees may contact 9-1-1 when necessary, but at least one accessible person for each crew will be designated responsible for initiating an emergency response. The emergency response can include: immediate first aid, continued monitoring, contacting 9-1-1, and transporting the victim to emergency responders. An appropriately trained and equipped first aid provider at the worksite can decide on the appropriate response. If that person does not exist, then 9-1-1 will be called for any employee showing heat related illness symptoms.

A risk assessment will be conducted for all worksites that consider the heat stress risk factors: if 9-1-1 can be accessed from the worksite, whether the work site is served by the 9-1-1 system, and ensure emergency responders can access any victims. All employees will have access to a map of their location or clear, detailed and precise directions.

Employees and supervisors will know the basic first aid to immediately stop the progression of heat illness.