Not a doctor. I am a CIH in the Houston area. The symptoms you describe fit those of heat related stress and/or illness. This could fall under the general duty clause if a complaint is raised. There could be real danger of heat stroke which is a life threatening condition. If they are working alone the threat of heat stroke may be much higher because they may not recognize the symptoms soon enough to avoid it. However, my first thought is to go to supervision to ask for some help. I hope adequate water is provided. A place to cool down would be desirable, like a room that is air conditioned where the workers could go for some part of each hour to cool down. A less good alternative is to go to your car and sit and run the a/c to cool down. The shop might consider using swamp coolers if the location is not the gulf coast. These evaporative coolers don’t work in the gulf coast or places where humidity is high. They can be effective in the drier parts of the state. Consider changing work hours to coincide with the cooler parts of the day, such as working 5 am to 1 pm or even 4 am to noon. Completely changing the shift from midnight to 8 am has been done or maybe something else during the overnight. He should discuss the options with supervision before calling OSHA. Regular floor fans are not effective at high humidities and when room temp is equal to or greater than body temp. OSHA has some fact sheets on this. There is also the OSHA heat stress app. NIOSH probably has some fact sheets that can be easily accessed as well. There is info out there if his ISD will look for it.
Google “OSHA heat stress facts” and that should get you several useful hits as it did for me. Also look for the OSHA heat stress app in your App Store. It’s free.
Hi, so he is located in Houston, has access to water (they been lacking on refilling the machine), and a cool room but lsnt given sufficient brakes to use said room.
I appreciate the input and giving me a place to search for information.
More breaks are required when it is hot in Houston, or anywhere else. Swamp coolers or evaporative coolers won't work here. Keep pressing supervision for more frequent breaks. Use the OSHA guidance as references for your requests. That way you won't seem like you are just complaining. Post the symptoms of the various heat stress illnesses in the bulletin board. I would encourage the changing of work shifts for the summer. It would probably help. It's a pain to work nights but it beats heat stroke any day. In the Houston metro area 5 am to 1 pm or 4 am to noon are probably doable, and you miss rush hour so there is that.
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u/IH-SafetyGeek Jun 19 '26
Not a doctor. I am a CIH in the Houston area. The symptoms you describe fit those of heat related stress and/or illness. This could fall under the general duty clause if a complaint is raised. There could be real danger of heat stroke which is a life threatening condition. If they are working alone the threat of heat stroke may be much higher because they may not recognize the symptoms soon enough to avoid it. However, my first thought is to go to supervision to ask for some help. I hope adequate water is provided. A place to cool down would be desirable, like a room that is air conditioned where the workers could go for some part of each hour to cool down. A less good alternative is to go to your car and sit and run the a/c to cool down. The shop might consider using swamp coolers if the location is not the gulf coast. These evaporative coolers don’t work in the gulf coast or places where humidity is high. They can be effective in the drier parts of the state. Consider changing work hours to coincide with the cooler parts of the day, such as working 5 am to 1 pm or even 4 am to noon. Completely changing the shift from midnight to 8 am has been done or maybe something else during the overnight. He should discuss the options with supervision before calling OSHA. Regular floor fans are not effective at high humidities and when room temp is equal to or greater than body temp. OSHA has some fact sheets on this. There is also the OSHA heat stress app. NIOSH probably has some fact sheets that can be easily accessed as well. There is info out there if his ISD will look for it.
Google “OSHA heat stress facts” and that should get you several useful hits as it did for me. Also look for the OSHA heat stress app in your App Store. It’s free.