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The summer heat makes working conditions difficult. It can lead to health risks for workers and even cause accidents at work. Protecting yourself from it is therefore essential. To this end, AUVA offers some advice to be applied outdoors or in the office.
From an organisational point of view, measures can be adopted such as: arranging working hours to take advantage of the cooler morning hours, shading the work area (awning outside or awning inside), avoiding or limiting intense physical strain at the hottest hours, providing extra breaks in the shade or in a cooler place, etc.
Outdoors in particular, workers will wear the appropriate protective equipment (clothing, helmet, neck protection, goggles, etc.). They will use a sunscreen with a high index for unprotected parts of the body and will reapply it regularly. Cold towels on the neck or a bucket of water for the feet can bring a little freshness.
For indoor workplaces, it is advisable to ventilate in the cooler hours, to switch off unnecessary electrical appliances as they generate extra heat, to cool your wrists with water, possibly take cold showers…
Of course, it is advisable to hydrate regularly (non-alcoholic drinks). In case of sunstroke or heatstroke, AUVA recommends to put the person in the shade, to raise his legs, to hydrate him, to put water-soaked tissues behind his neck. If the person loses consciousness, lie on their side and call for help immediately.
