Lexology (05/14/12) Amanda Strainis-Walker; Eric Conn

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reminding employers with outdoor workplaces about the agency’s focus on the hazards of working in high heat. OSHA’s heat-related illness campaign began in 2011, when it produced a great deal of public information about heat-related illness, including a dedicated heat illness information page on OSHA’s Web site, a YouTube video, news releases, and even a heat safety smart phone app.

OSHA’s four-step program for employers with outdoor work sites includes developing a heat-related illness prevention plan; training employees in an organization’s heat-related illness prevention plan and safe work practices before they are required to work outside in the heat; tracking the weather at outdoor work sites daily; and implementing the heat-related illness prevention plan when the heat index is at or above 80°F.