By: Jennifer M. Horn The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has launched a new smart phone application that will “enable workers and supervisors to monitor the heat index at their worksites in order to prevent heat-related illnesses.” The heat index application will allow a manager to quickly determine the heat risk at a job site and provide tips and ideas for how employees can avoid overheating such as:
- drink fluids;
- take breaks;
- plan for and know what to do in an emergency;
- adjust work operations, if possible, to avoid peak heat hours;
- build up the workload for new workers gradually, not suddenly;
- get trained on heat illness signs and symptoms; and
- monitor each other for signs and symptoms of heat-related illness.
The free application will be available in both English and Spanish and can be downloaded from the OSHA website. Employers and employees alike have an interest in preventing heat-related illness at the job site. Hopefully, the new OSHA smart phone application will aid in this effort. Jennifer M. Horn is Senior Counsel at Cohen Seglias and a member of the Construction Group. She concentrates her practice in the areas of construction litigation and real estate.