Don’t Let The Heat Stress You

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With the temperature soaring, heat exhaustion is a clear and present workplace hazard in practically any location. Throw in the hectic pace of a job that requires you to do heavy labor outdoors or in an unventilated warehouse, or in an environment where fires are a direct hazard, and you need a better solution than a bottle of water to keep you cool. You need heat stress gear.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) requires employers to “furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees”. What does this mean? This means that in conditions of extreme heat, the safety of workers must be provided for.

So what do you do about this? Well, fortunately, manufacturers like OccuNomix specialize in occupational safety gear, including cooling gear. Cooling gear comes in a variety of forms: cooling vests, hats and headbands, inserts for hard hats, wristbands, and cooling wipes. Each type of heat stress relief is useful, depending on the work environment involved.

Cooling vests may consist of simple poncho vests with crystals that cool the user when wettened, to mesh vests that use cooling pack inserts that essentially work as wearable ice packs, maintaining coolness and comfort in the hottest of temperatures. There are even fire-resistant cooling vests for use by firefighters, those at risk of arc flash hazards, and others in workplaces where fire is a constant hazard.

For those who need a more lightweight cooling solution, cooling headbands work similarly, with cooling crystals that relieve the effects of high temperatures while keeping perspiration out of your eyes, while cooling hats use the same crystals to keep you cooler while keeping the sun out of your eyes. For the working person who needs to keep cool while protecting their head, there are hard hat inserts for relief in situations where hard hats are required, and practically anyone can benefit from cooling wipes, disposable wipes that are useful for creating immediate evaporative relief to transfer heat from the skin without requiring special clothing.

With the summer as blazing hot as ever, you can’t afford not to invest in cooling solutions for your workplace. Clothing especially intended for heat stress relief is a necessary expense to prevent worker health hazards and maintain OSHA safety standards, while increasing the comfort of your workers. Even individuals can benefit from these items made specifically to help beat the heat. When it comes to cooling gear, don’t let the heat stress you - check out the solutions available, and keep cool this summer.

This entry was posted on July 26, 2010 at 08:16 and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.