Construction Informer

As temperatures soar keeping cool on a construction job can be challenging. The State of Washington has backed away from some requirements in its battle against heat stress in the wake of a lot of complaints that they were going too far. Gone is the requirement that employers need to maintain temperature records, and the state has also simplified details regarding training and educating workers on heat-stress and implementing accident prevention programs.

However, the rules that kick in at 89 degrees if people are working in direct sun wearing regular clothes are still in effect. At that point employers have to provide at least a quart of water per hour to each employee, provide shaded rest areas and have a written plan to prevent heat stress. Last year the state uncovered and fined employers for 860 violations. Four people have died of heat stroke in that state since 1997 and hundreds have been hospitalized. There are other requirements based upon the other kinds of clothing that may be worn, like hazmat suits.

Things get really hot under a hard hat. Harvard Medical School says 30 percent of a person’s body heat is attributable to the head. Now, a company called Salisbury has released a lithium-powered fan for hard hats. The device has a computer chip that controls timed released bursts of air into the cavity space of the hat. The unit operates for one minute on and four off. There is also a glove-friendly manual switch for those times when you want to be in charge of the cooling.

As you might expect though there are other options for keeping a cool head. Erogodyne has some interesting items with no moving parts. The company claims its bandanas and headbands, triangle hats and hard hat inserts use evaporative cooling to tame the heat for 24 to 48 hours. It isn’t clear what happens after that time. The company also has cooling vests, wrist sweatbands, hydration packs and an item called a High Performance Cap that will also fit under a hard hat. These offerings are also tailored to North America since you can get bandanas with the U.S. flag, Canadian flag and Mexican flag on them. There are also many more designs for those of you in other places.

Now that summer is officially here it’s a good time to consider how you are helping your people keep their cool.