TY - JOUR
T1 - Heat Safety in the Workplace
T2 - Modified Delphi Consensus to Establish Strategies and Resources to Protect the US Workers
AU - Morrissey, Margaret C.
AU - Casa, Douglas J.
AU - Brewer, Gabrielle J.
AU - Adams, William M.
AU - Hosokawa, Yuri
AU - Benjamin, Courteney L.
AU - Grundstein, Andrew J.
AU - Hostler, David
AU - McDermott, Brendon P.
AU - McQuerry, Meredith L.
AU - Stearns, Rebecca L.
AU - Filep, Erica M.
AU - DeGroot, David W.
AU - Fulcher, Juley
AU - Flouris, Andreas D.
AU - Huggins, Robert A.
AU - Jacklitsch, Brenda L.
AU - Jardine, John F.
AU - Lopez, Rebecca M.
AU - McCarthy, Ronda B.
AU - Pitisladis, Yannis
AU - Pryor, Riana R.
AU - Schlader, Zachary J.
AU - Smith, Caroline J.
AU - Smith, Denise L.
AU - Spector, June T.
AU - Vanos, Jennifer K.
AU - Williams, W. Jon
AU - Vargas, Nicole T.
AU - Yeargin, Susan W.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank all task force members who were part of the December 10, 2020 Occupational Heat Stress Roundtable (Table S1) for scoring each recommendation and providing feedback.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. The Authors. GeoHealth published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union.
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - The purpose of this consensus document was to develop feasible, evidence-based occupational heat safety recommendations to protect the US workers that experience heat stress. Heat safety recommendations were created to protect worker health and to avoid productivity losses associated with occupational heat stress. Recommendations were tailored to be utilized by safety managers, industrial hygienists, and the employers who bear responsibility for implementing heat safety plans. An interdisciplinary roundtable comprised of 51 experts was assembled to create a narrative review summarizing current data and gaps in knowledge within eight heat safety topics: (a) heat hygiene, (b) hydration, (c) heat acclimatization, (d) environmental monitoring, (e) physiological monitoring, (f) body cooling, (g) textiles and personal protective gear, and (h) emergency action plan implementation. The consensus-based recommendations for each topic were created using the Delphi method and evaluated based on scientific evidence, feasibility, and clarity. The current document presents 40 occupational heat safety recommendations across all eight topics. Establishing these recommendations will help organizations and employers create effective heat safety plans for their workplaces, address factors that limit the implementation of heat safety best-practices and protect worker health and productivity.
AB - The purpose of this consensus document was to develop feasible, evidence-based occupational heat safety recommendations to protect the US workers that experience heat stress. Heat safety recommendations were created to protect worker health and to avoid productivity losses associated with occupational heat stress. Recommendations were tailored to be utilized by safety managers, industrial hygienists, and the employers who bear responsibility for implementing heat safety plans. An interdisciplinary roundtable comprised of 51 experts was assembled to create a narrative review summarizing current data and gaps in knowledge within eight heat safety topics: (a) heat hygiene, (b) hydration, (c) heat acclimatization, (d) environmental monitoring, (e) physiological monitoring, (f) body cooling, (g) textiles and personal protective gear, and (h) emergency action plan implementation. The consensus-based recommendations for each topic were created using the Delphi method and evaluated based on scientific evidence, feasibility, and clarity. The current document presents 40 occupational heat safety recommendations across all eight topics. Establishing these recommendations will help organizations and employers create effective heat safety plans for their workplaces, address factors that limit the implementation of heat safety best-practices and protect worker health and productivity.
KW - heat risk management
KW - heat stress
KW - heat-related illness
KW - occupational
KW - safety
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113395422&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1029/2021GH000443
DO - 10.1029/2021GH000443
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85113395422
SN - 2471-1403
VL - 5
JO - GeoHealth
JF - GeoHealth
IS - 8
M1 - e2021GH000443
ER -