It’s getting to the time of year where we all need to thing about being sun smart in the work place. Do businesses and their best assets manage the risk of UV Light or working outdoors effectively?
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Are all reasonably practicable steps being taken to stay Sun Smart?
Do workers understand why a business asks staff to wear certain items of clothing when working outdoors.?
Do New Zealand workers understand that the idea of long sleeves and long trousers (long and longs) in the heat of the summer months is a way to manage UV light and to prevent sunburn. It isn’t there just to make workers feel uncomfortable, it is there for their protection.
Put yourself in the position of your boss or the CEO of the company and ask yourself, if I was in their position, how would I want my staff to protect themselves from the sun?
We all know the power and strength of the sun in Aotearoa New Zealand, compared to other places around the world. Is it cool to have the tan?
What is Sun Smart?
This is where we all need to think sensibly about our outdoor surroundings and how we work in these outdoor settings. We need to be able to do the jobs that we have been given, but these jobs should be done where no harm is done. Remember, it doesn’t have to be a beautiful sunny bluebird day. Heat and lots of cloud cover can have the same effect.
Have we got enough access to shaded areas?
Do we have enough clothing on to cover and protect ourselves from the sun and UV rays. Hats, long sleeves, long trousers, sunglasses. Is the correct colour clothing worn to keep us cool?
Are we giving our workers clothing with a colour that absorbs heat and we’re doing this by accident?
Do we have access to an area where there is some airflow to try and cool ourselves?
Another topic relating to this is hydration, and I will tell a personal story about the effects of not hydrating properly. Even though I thought I did.
There are many ways to provide shade. A simply way could be to let your teams carry a gazebo which can be easily erected and dismantled. It could be get a shade sail that fits onto your roof rails on your utes / vehicles and extends out to provide some shade. It could be an umbrella and a base filled with sand or water. These are just some options for consideration.
Connect with a PPE provider to look at summer clothing options. What long long options are there that will protect workers from UV. Is the clothing light enough and airy enough to let the body cool down but also offer the required protection from the Sun and the other task related hazards and risks.
Can your workers be given some personal battery operated fans to use while resting on their breaks?
Little fans, that also spray droplets of water for the extra cooling effect.
Although it isn’t typically written down, how long should you staff work for in the heat of the day? Will there be additional breaks to aid with re-hydration?
This really is a question for your management team to answer. This could be a question for your Health and Safety Committee. Can the work be delayed until the cooler evening temperatures or can it start earlier?
There is plenty of information freely available to remind us to stay out of the sun during the hottest parts of the day. Don’t forget, buildings absorb the heat throughout the day and then sweats out the heat which in turn heats up inside the buildings when it starts to get cooler outside.
Visible Felt Leadership
Are your managers, getting up from behind their desks to go and see how their teams are who are working out in the field. Do they go and have a chat with their teams to see what can be done to make the conditions slightly easier for them. Do the managers go out armed with a selection of ice pops and iso-tonic type drinks to help our workers hydrate and cool down. Do the managers educate their workers about reducing the amount of fizzy drinks full of caffeine consumed. Are the managers promoting the iso-tonic drink sachets like Throzt or Squencher?
Personal experience
Before getting into Health and Safety, I had an amazing 13 year career as a Movements Controller (Mover) in the Royal Air Force. As a Mover, you would load and unload equipment, vehicles, passengers, baggage and anything else that could fit into the aircraft and ensure it was fully loaded and secured before take-off time.
For this particular personal experience, I was part of a large team who were deployed to Malaysia for an exercise. We were there for a few weeks and were handling the arrival and departure of RAF C130 Hercules aircraft. On one particular day, a few of us were tasked to load the C130 on the airfield with a load of equipment that had been prepared the day before. This was a load that would be placed on a vehicle, driven out to the aircraft and then manually handled and moved again to load directly on to the aircraft floor.
To use the space efficiently, the load would be stacked on top of each other and built into a big cube with a 4500kg net thrown over to secure the load for flight. To cut a long story short, this load took a while to complete. We probably started loading the aircraft at about 10am and the tin can of the C130 Hercules, heated up on the airfield nicely. Great if it was in a cold climate, not so for where we were.
Although the crew door at the front of the aircraft was open, as well as the para doors either side of the aircraft and the ramp being open there wasn’t much airflow to cool the inside of the aircraft.
For the time of year, it was pretty hot and very humid so what we drank we sweated out quickly. The team had been on the aircraft for a few hours moving the heavy boxes and equipment and there was plenty of chilled bottled water available to drink. We managed to squeeze in a break for lunch at the local café for a fizzy drink and a sandwich with salty chips (which went down a treat) and gave us a break from being in the tin can.
Now, one thing I hadn’t realised or taken much notice of was the amount of water I was drinking. It was going in but wasn’t coming out using the normal bodily function of urination.
Around 3 pm I felt the urge that I needed to go. The place to go was using the aircraft toilet, which consisted of a plastic urinal that tilted forward towards the handy step. Mid stream I looked down and saw a very deep orange coloured stream disappearing into the plastic urinal. I thought, that’s not looking good. I finished, sorted myself out and grabbed a couple of bottles of water. I skulled those, and continued with what I was loading.
At this point, I was on top of the cube that had been built, preparing to haul the heavy net (approx. 45kgs) over the load. Bearing in mind I was balanced on the boxes, which are slightly wobbly as they weren’t restrained at this point, with my head close to the ceiling of the aircraft, which if I fell, I would have awkwardly fallen around 2.5 metres.
As I started to pull, I realised I had no strength. A wave of dizziness came over me, so before I fell down, I decided to climb down. I laid on the ramp and threw some water over my head, which didn’t make me feel any better and I asked one of the team to drive me back to the airconditioned office. When we got there, I laid down on the couch and mumbled something to my boss about not feeling flash.
The next few minutes are a slight blur because I remember deciding to get off the couch onto the ground as I didn’t want to fall off, however I don’t remember doing it. At this point, which is probably why the ambulance was called, I ended up curled into the fetal position as my muscles had started to cramp. While they cramped, it hurt like hell until I got into the comfort of the fetal position. My hands then cramped with fingers curling up and then my mouth muscle cramped up, forcing my lips to look more like a cats arse than a pair of human lips. Thankfully Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok didn’t exist back then…
The ambulance arrived, a colleague armed with water bottles and towels escorted me in the ambulance for the 40 + minute journey to the hospital. When we arrived at the hospital, I felt much better. The doctor taking one look at me and thanked me for looking after the person still in the back of the ambulance. The doctor was surprised when he was corrected as to who the patient was and who was the support person.
Anyway, the doctor signed me off work for 3 days to recover from this episode and I survived and have this opportunity to tell my story. I did use the opportunity to keep active in the nearby pool to keep cool (there were plenty of sun umbrellas to create shade and hydrated well with a very tasty coconut type drink served in the coconut shell…
Knowing then, what I know now and what would I do differently?
Well, firstly I didn’t really know or recognise what the symptoms were at the time. I would drink more iso-tonic drinks and less water. Definitely avoid fizzy drinks and caffeine though. Water doesn’t replace the salts and minerals that are sweated out of the body so it is important these are replaced. Take more breaks and get to an area where you can cool down or find alternative ways to keep cool.
This could be to use cool-ties or other cooling devices that are available. (Ask your PPE provider) If you don’t have access to Thorzt or Squencher, and of course seeking advice from a pharmacist, consider putting dioralyte sachets into your first aid kits or arming your teams who work outdoors in the heat to take some and use as per the instructions on the sachets. Keep a check on the frequency of urination and the colour.
This happened almost 30 years ago and thanks do go to those who helped and looked after me at my time of need. I haven’t had a repeat episode but do recognise when I am over-heating and take control of the situation before it controls me.
Need some quality Workplace Health and Safety advice from an experienced expert H&S consultant? Get in touch with me today to book a catch-up! I’d love to help.