Heat Safety Is Also About Fire Prevention

When most employers hear heat safety, they immediately think about hydration, water breaks, and preventing heat stroke. Those are important, but they’re only part of the picture.

Extreme heat creates significant workplace hazards, including heat stress, which can seriously injure or even kill employees.

Another hazard is an increased risk of fire, particularly in workplaces with heavy equipment, electrical systems, combustible materials, or hot work operations.

Although OSHA has not adopted a federal heat stress standard, employers have a legal obligation under the General Duty Clause to provide employees with a workplace free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm.

OSHA also continues to enforce heat hazards through its National Emphasis Program on Outdoor and Indoor Heat Related Hazards.

Fire hazards, on the other hand, are governed by specific OSHA standards.

Protecting Employees from Heat Stress

Heat stress occurs when the body can no longer regulate its internal temperature.

While anyone can be affected, the risk increases for employees working outdoors, in hot indoor environments, or while wearing protective clothing.

Workplaces and industries commonly affected include:

• Construction
• Manufacturing
• Warehousing
• Utilities
• Foundries
• Commercial kitchens
• Bakeries
• Mining
• Chemical plants
• Emergency response
• Landscaping
• Agriculture

Heat stress can also affect employees working indoors where ventilation is poor or machinery generates significant heat.

Heat Prevention

Heat related illnesses range from mild to life threatening and can escalate rather quickly.

It is important for employers, management and peers to know the warning signs:   

1. Heat cramps are often the first warning sign and are usually caused by dehydration and electrolyte loss.
2. Heat exhaustion may include headache, dizziness, nausea, weakness, heavy sweating, and fainting. Employees should be moved to a cool area immediately, encouraged to rest, and provided fluids.
3. Heat stroke is a medical emergency. Signs include confusion, irrational behavior, seizures, loss of consciousness, hot skin, and an extremely elevated body temperature. If you believe that an employee is having a heat stroke, call 911 immediately. Never leave the employee alone or send them home without medical evaluation.

The best heat illness prevention programs focus on preventing exposure before someone becomes sick.

OSHA recommends following the hierarchy of controls, beginning with engineering and administrative controls before relying solely on personal protective equipment.

Employers should consider:

• Providing cool drinking water close to the work area and encouraging employees to drink every 15 to 20 minutes instead of waiting until they feel thirsty.
• Scheduling physically demanding work during the cooler parts of the day whenever possible.
• Acclimatizing new employees and those returning from extended absences by gradually increasing their exposure to hot environments over several days.
• Providing shaded or air-conditioned recovery areas for rest breaks.
• Rotating physically demanding tasks and using additional workers to reduce heat exposure.
• Monitoring employees performing strenuous work or wearing impermeable protective clothing.
• Training supervisors and employees to recognize the signs of heat related illness and respond appropriately.

Engineering controls are equally important.

Improving ventilation, using localized cooling, shielding radiant heat sources, insulating hot surfaces, and maintaining cooling systems can significantly reduce employee exposure.

Let’s Talk About Fire

Heat affects more than people. It affects equipment, electrical systems, and combustible materials as well.

During periods of extreme heat, employers should recognize that fire hazards may also increase.

High temperatures can:

• Cause motors, compressors, transformers, and electrical equipment to overheat.
• Increase electrical demand as cooling systems run continuously, placing additional stress on electrical infrastructure.
• Increase evaporation of flammable liquids, creating more ignitable vapors.
• Reduce the effectiveness of industrial cooling systems, allowing machinery to reach unsafe operating temperatures.
• Increase combustible dust hazards in facilities such as woodworking shops, grain handling operations, and metal processing facilities.

Heat also affects people.

Fatigue, dehydration, and reduced concentration increase the likelihood of mistakes during welding, chemical handling, lockout/tagout activities, and other hazardous work.

For employers performing welding, cutting, brazing, or other hot work, OSHA’s 29 CFR 1910.252 requires employers to control ignition sources, remove combustible materials where feasible, provide fire watches when required, and ensure appropriate fire extinguishing equipment is immediately available.

One common misconception is that arc rated or flame resistant clothing causes heat stress.

While we’re talking about fire, one common misconception is that arc rated or flame resistant clothing causes heat stress—not necessarily.

Properly selected lightweight, breathable AR/FR garments generally do not create heat stress on their own. In fact, long sleeve AR/FR clothing can reduce heat load by protecting employees from direct sunlight.

Heat stress becomes more likely when clothing is excessively layered, non-breathable, or not appropriate for the work being performed.

The solution is not removing required protective clothing but rather selecting the right garments, encouraging hydration, providing adequate rest breaks, and allowing employees to remove unnecessary outer layers whenever it is safe to do so.

Fire Prevention

Extreme heat is a good reminder to revisit both heat illness prevention and fire prevention programs.

Under OSHA’s 29 CFR 1910.39, covered employers must develop and maintain a fire prevention plan that identifies major fire hazards, outlines procedures for handling combustible materials, assigns responsibility for maintaining fire prevention equipment, and informs employees of the hazards present in the workplace.

Employers should also:

• Inspect electrical panels, motors, transformers, and equipment for signs of overheating.
• Ensure adequate ventilation around machinery.
• Remove combustible dust and waste before it accumulates.
• Properly store flammable liquids away from heat sources.
• Monitor equipment temperatures where appropriate.
• Complete preventive maintenance before periods of extreme heat.
• Train employees to report unusual odors, smoke, sparks, or overheating equipment immediately.

Hot weather rarely causes a fire by itself. More often, it creates conditions that make an existing ignition source much more likely to result in a serious incident.  

The issue is not whether an accident happened, it is whether it could reasonably have been prevented.

In many cases, the issue is not whether an accident happened, it is whether it could reasonably have been prevented.

From a legal perspective, employers should remember that OSHA often evaluates heat related incidents under the General Duty Clause by asking two questions:

1. Was the hazard recognized?
2. Were there feasible steps the employer could have taken to reduce or eliminate the hazard?

The same principle frequently applies following workplace fires.

Investigators often examine whether overheating equipment, combustible materials, inadequate maintenance, or other recognized hazards were identified and addressed before the incident occurred.

A strong heat illness prevention program protects employees from heat related illnesses while also reducing the operational risks that come with extreme temperatures, including equipment failures and workplace fires.

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For more information, contact CBIA’s Delmarina López (860.244.1982).