07/11/07 Dealing with the Heat

Dealing with the Heat. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Many years ago I was working on a roofing crew in Houston, Texas. I was the guy carrying shingles up the ladder and quickly became over-heated. No one seemed to notice and kept yelling at me to hurry up. I was disoriented and finally fell off the ladder. Heat stroke! Farm workers are easily susceptible if precautions are not taken and the Department of Labor and Industries wants workers to be educated according to spokesperson, Elaine Fischer. FISCHER: It's a very serious illness. It's not well recognized just how serious it is but we do know of at least 4 fatalities in the lat 10 years. People were just working away and all of a sudden they just collapsed. And in some cases they may survive but not ever fully recover. Being disoriented is a major sign of heat stress and you probably wouldn't recognize it yourself. In my case, I thought I was just slow and weak. FISCHER: Other people need to recognize when a co-worker may be in distress and know how to respond and know how to get 911 if necessary or how to treat the employee if the employee seems to be complaining about a headache or sickness or something. Labor and Industries has been holding training sessions around the state but they have a lot of information available on their web site. FISCHER: We've got materials for helping the employer prepare the accident prevention plan and training materials for the employee, quick reference sheets that they can just remind them at a glance. Contact L&I for more information, get prepared because Fischer reminds us. FISCHER: The important thing we want people to know is that it's a serious health condition that can cause disability and death. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.