Beating the Heat

Summer is here, bringing with it heat-related dangers for scrap plant workers. This review shows how to keep their temperature down and their productivity and morale up.

By Armando Roggio

Armando Roggio is a writer based in Rigby, Idaho. 

The mercury is rising, and scrap operators concerned about employees, productivity, and profits must recognize the dangers of heat-related illnesses.
   Some 2,702 U.S. workers missed more than 5,400 days of work in 1999 due to heat-related illnesses, according to a recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Importantly, more than 50 percent of those workers came from work environments similar to those found in the scrap industry.
   Heat-caused illnesses undoubtedly affect employee health, safety, and morale. Aside from the personal effects of high temperatures, there are also financial repercussions. In short, heat-related problems in the workplace can wilt a scrap company’s productivity, evaporating profits.
   Heat is a familiar problem to scrap companies located in “hot” regions such as the South and Southwest. 
   “You hear about it every year here in Florida,” confirms Steve Carey, vice president of Allied Scrap Processors Inc. (Lakeland, Fla.). “It’s in the news—someone passing out or getting heat stroke. You don’t hear anymore about people dying from it because you can get medical attention so fast. But it is a serious problem.”
   Even if your plant isn’t in a hot zone, however, heat-related dangers can exist in your sorting buildings, warehouses, torch-cutting areas, melting operations, offices without air-conditioning, and various other spaces.
   The point is: No matter where you are, heat can be a threat to your employees.

Natural Defenses
Temperature, humidity, air velocity, and radiant heat from furnaces, sun-baked No.1 HMS, or the sun itself all contribute to the heat stress your employees experience. These factors combine with each worker’s personal characteristics—including medical condition, fitness, weight, age, and acclimatization—to drive his or her body’s cooling systems into high gear.
   Humans have two basic defenses against high temperatures—heat exchange and evaporative cooling.
Heat exchange happens when the body reacts to high external temperatures by increasing the circulation of blood to the skin, which increases skin temperature and allows the body to get rid of excess heat. The problem for scrap plant workers is that their duties often require muscle power and muscles demand blood for physical labor, which means that “less blood is available to flow to the skin and release heat,” says OSHA in its factsheet Protecting Workers in Hot Environments.
   Evaporative cooling—a fancy term for sweating—is the body’s next line of defense against excessive heat. The body excretes sweat onto the skin’s surface and the sweat evaporates, cooling the body and dropping the body’s core temperature. Sweating also has it limitations, though. For sweat to cool the body, the humidity of the work environment must be relatively low or else the sweat won’t evaporate as effectively. Plus, workers must replace the fluids and salts their bodies expend through sweating or else risk dehydration.
   If any of your employees works in an environment in which their body can’t shed enough excess heat, then that employee is exposed to a health risk and will most likely work less efficiently.

Taking the Heat
Heat stroke is the most dangerous 
temperature-related problem for scrap plant workers. When the body’s natural cooling defenses fail, a worker’s core body temperature can exceed 105.8oF. At that point, the employee suffers heat stroke.
   “Heat stroke is a medical emergency,” OSHA warns in Section III, Chapter 4, of its Technical Manual. “The primary signs and symptoms of heat stroke are confusion; irrational behavior; loss of consciousness; convulsions; a lack of sweating (usually); hot, dry skin; and abnormally high body temperatures. … If a worker shows signs of possible heat stroke, professional medical treatment should be obtained immediately.”
   Heat exhaustion can also pose a danger to scrap plant workers and reduce their productivity. This condition, brought on by the body’s inability to cope with the combination of heat and labor, causes “headache, nausea, vertigo, weakness, thirst and giddiness,” OSHA says.
   Both heat stroke and heat exhaustion can lead to fainting, falls, and serious injury.
When workers labor too long, too hard, with too little fluid, they can also suffer heat cramps, which stem from an electrolyte imbalance due to excessive sweating. This electrolyte imbalance can be caused by too little or too much salt in one’s body, so workers should consider drinking water rather than Gatorade, 
PowerAde, or similar beverages. They should also avoid drinking sodas, which don’t provide the pure liquid the body needs to stave off heat-related problems.
   Heat rashes are reportedly the most common heat-related problem that scrap industry workers face. Most heat rashes are brought on when clothing, humidity, or other conditions prevent a worker’s perspiration from evaporating. Like cramps, heat rashes cause serious discomfort and can dramatically reduce an employee’s
effectiveness.
   Heat fatigue poses yet another threat to workers and cuts productivity. The productivity part is obvious—a fatigued worker has less energy and, thus, gets less done. More worrisome, heat fatigue impairs a person’s motor skills and mental capacity, which could lead to a serious injury. For example, an employee could become careless with the torch or front-end loader he or she is operating.

Overcoming the Problem
What can your company do, then, to protect its employees from heat-related problems?
   Education Is Key. Veteran scrap managers assert that heat-related training and education are essential to beating the heat.
   Sierra Iron & Metal Co. (Bakersfield, Calif.) is one scrap processor that faces the heat challenge every summer, when temperatures in its area can reach 100o to 105oF. “For employees working on the scrap pile or in the direct sun, that means they’ll see temperatures of 120o,” says Eric Porter, operations manager. “So the first thing we do is educate them.”
   The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says employers should train their employees about the following issues and topics:
• the hazards of heat stress;
• recognition of heat-related danger signs, factors, and symptoms;
• first-aid procedures and the potential health effects of heat stress;
• how to avoid heat stress;
• the dangers of drinking alcohol and using drugs—including therapeutic ones—in hot work environments;
• what kinds of clothes to wear;
• the purpose of close surveillance from management; and
• the benefits to the employee for adopting heat-savvy work habits.
   Be Diet-Conscious. When it comes to training, it’s particularly critical to inform employees about the proper hot-weather diet—one that’s low in fat and calories—and instruct them to drink plenty of water.
   Sierra has two heat-related safety meetings a year, one just before the hot season and one in the middle of it. “We educate our employees about what to eat and we tell them what to drink,” Porter says, noting that Sierra encourages its workers to drink at least a “couple bottles of water” along with one PowerAde daily.
   Allied Scrap Processors also knows the value of heat-related training. “When we review heat stress in our safety meetings, we always review workers’ diets,” says Steve Carey. “We tell them, ‘Don’t drink a lot of soda. You need some water.’” Rather than simply telling employees they should drink water, Allied makes sure its workers “have an ample supply of water, and we make sure it’s where they can get it,” says Carey.
   One way to be sure your employees are getting plenty of water is to weigh them. OSHA recommends weighing each employee at the beginning of his or her shift and again at the end of the day. Total weight loss for the day should not exceed 1-1/2 percent of the person’s body weight. That means, for instance, that a 200-pound employee shouldn’t lose more than 3 pounds in a day. As an extra safeguard, you can also weigh employees during the day to be sure they’re getting plenty of fluids and not losing too much weight.
   Beyond training, scrap companies can take other steps to minimize the dangers and effects of heat in the workplace.
   Gimme a Break. One such step is to offer several breaks throughout the day in hot seasons—and ensure that employees take them.
   Paper packer Texas Recycling/Surplus Inc. (Dallas) usually offers one 20-minute break in the morning, but in the summer it adds a second 20-minute break in the afternoon, notes Joel Litman, one of the firm’s owners. This two-break approach enables the company’s workers to tend to their physical needs, recover more quickly, and work more efficiency, Litman asserts.
   Start Earlier. Texas Recycling/Surplus and other scrap firms also change their work schedule during hot months. The rationale is that, by beginning the workday earlier, employees can get in several hours of labor before the mercury gets too high. “When we start the day at 4 or 5 a.m., it’s 80o—and that will be the low for the day,” says Litman.
Watch What You Wear. Another factor to consider is the clothing your employees wear. As OSHA confirms, cotton clothes keep workers cooler.
   Allied Scrap Processors, for one, requires its employees to wear cotton-based uniforms. “We like our guys to look good and they look better in uniforms, but the safety reason is that they keep cooler,” explains Carey.
   Aside from cotton clothing, there’s other apparel designed specifically to keep employees cool. The textile division of American Products, for example, is one of several companies that make products—from vests to hats to hardhat liners—incorporating Hydroweave, a patented evaporative-cooling fabric made by AquaTex Industries Inc. that can reportedly keep employees cool and productive for up to eight hours even in temperatures above 90oF.
   The Hydroweave products work this way: First, they’re immersed in water for five minutes. The excess water is then removed and the inner lining wiped dry. As the employee works, a conductive, waterproof inner lining pulls heat from the person’s body and removes body moisture while water stored in the special fibrous batting evaporates, thus cooling the wearer while also keeping him or her dry.
   According to American Products, Hydroweave apparel reduces a worker’s core body temperature, enabling the person to work longer and more comfortably.
   The lightweight products are also available in a fire-resistant version suitable for metal and foundry operations, as well as other high-heat environments.
   Cool It, Man. Who doesn’t like a cool blast of air-conditioning on a hot day? Thanks to portable AC units, you can help your employees stay cool with spot-cooling equipment in hot work spaces such as sorting areas, loading docks, trailers, warehouses, and more.
   One manufacturer that produces such units is the dehumidification division of Munters Corp., which makes the CoolAire portable AC unit that can provide economical spot cooling, the company says. The CoolAire unit removes hot air through an exhaust air stream while delivering up to 1,500 standard cubic feet per minute of cool air where it’s needed.
Sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, heat-related dangers will continue to be a factor in scrap recycling operations. Understanding these dangers, providing the proper training, modifying your operating practices during hot periods, and using available technology, however, can help you protect your employees and—in the end—beat the heat. •

Editor’s note: For more information on Hydroweave products, contact American Products’ textile division at 716/266-5120 or AquaTex Industries at 800/366-7753 or 256/704-9300, or visit or www.hydro-weave.com.
   For more information on the CoolAire, contact Munters at 800/843-5360 or 978/241-1100, or visit www.muntersamerica.com (go to the dehumidification division section).