Heat Stress Among Construction Waste-Abatement Workers: An Emerging Problem

Details

• Personal Author:
  Belard JL ; Stanevich, Ronald L.
• Description:
  Objectives: To determine the extent of heat stress conditions among hazardous-waste-abatement workers. Methods: A literature search was conducted and health surveillance data obtained through the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Army Medical Corps, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. These sources were reviewed for cases of heat stress and heat stroke. Contacts with the Environmental Protection Agency and labor unions and a visit to the Hazardous Waste Abatement Training Center operated by the International Union of Operating Engineers provided additional information that heat stress is an emerging problem in this growing national effort. Results: These workers, who belong to the construction industry, perform physically demanding tasks, often in hot environments, while wearing complete encapsulating chemical protective clothing and respiratory protection. The number of workers employed in hazardous waste management has grown from 80,000 in 1980 to > 1,000,000 in 1990. Between 1975-1985, heat stroke was the tenth most frequent type of construction-worker illness reported into workers' compensation. It has been estimated that for each heat stroke case, more than 10 heat exhaustion cases occur. However, heat exhaustion, a major stage of heat stress, was not a classified category within the compensable cases. If it were, then heat exhaustion would rank as the leading reported worker illness in Heavy Construction (Standard Industrial Classification [SIC] 16) and be second in Residential (SIC 15) and Special Trades (SIC 17) Construction. Heat stress is a common hazard to construction waste-abatement workers because of four factors: mandatory use of vapor-barrier clothing, outdoor exposure to hot environments, high level of energy expenditure, and lack of specific work-and-rest strategies. Conclusions: Heat stress is a major health concern in this fast-growing population. Hazardous-waste-abatement work must be evaluated to determine variation of the body core temperature with workload. This should lead to the development of work-and-rest cycles as well as state-of-the-art engineering controls and monitoring devices to warn of impending heat stress to workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Heat Stress Disorders Hot Temperature Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Construction Industry Construction Workers Hazardous Waste Cleanup Heat Exposure Heat Stress Hot Environments Outdoor Workers Waste Abatement
• Publisher:
  Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; Illinois ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  306-307
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20059840
• Citation:
  Second World Conference on Injury Control, May 20-23, 1993, Atlanta, Georgia. Des Plaines, IL: Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, 1993 May; :306-307
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1993
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  15 - General Building Contractors - (SIC) ; 16 - Heavy Construction, ex. Building - (SIC) ; 17 - Special Trade Contractors - (SIC)
• Source Full Name:
  Second World Conference on Injury Control, May 20-23, 1993, Atlanta, Georgia
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ceacfd215a9fb26a8fdbc569d10541596a2168303f019962bb6dc7deb6eca91a873552eb25de083667936e6605036ccf01e34a6ab8f89d6520a5aed742a4a842
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/223906/cdc_223906_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.49 MB ]