Rancho Mesa's Alyssa Burley and Media Communications & Client Services Specialist Lauren Stumpf discuss how employers can prepare for the heat and prevent heat illness among their employees.

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Director/Host: Alyssa Burley

Guest: Lauren Stumpf

Producer/Editor: Megan Lockhart

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “News Room News” by Spence

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Transcript

Alyssa Burley: Hi, this is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa's Media Communications and Client Services Department. Thank you for listening to today's top Rancho Mesa news, brought to you by our Safety and Risk Management Network, Studio one.

Welcome back, everyone. My guest is Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications and Client Services Specialist with Rancho Mesa. Today, we’re going to discuss heat illness prevention. Lauren, welcome to the show.

Lauren Stumpf: Hi Alyssa, thanks for having me.

AB: Many places across the country can experience high heat in the late Summer and early Fall months, which increases the risk of heat illness for employees working outside. How can employers prepare for the heat and prevent heat illness among their employees?

LS: Well, every year in June, Rancho Mesa hosts a heat illness prevention workshop that we make available to our clients either in-person, streamed or on-demand.  The workshop is designed to prepare our clients for the coming heat.

AB: We’re seeing regulators stepping up their heat illness awareness campaigns, lately. Why do you think that is the case?

LS: OSHA has issued a heat hazard alert, reminding companies of their responsibility to protect employees from heat illness this time of year. The U.S. Department of Labor also announced stricter enforcement for heat-related violations and increasing inspections in the construction and landscape industries. All of this is being done in response to an increase in heat-related injuries.

AB: Yeah and I recently spoke with Rancho Mesa’s workers’ compensation claims advocate Jim Malone and he brought the increase in incidents to my attention.  Even though we started the season with a push for heat illness prevention training, as the heat continues, incidents are increasing across the country. So, this is perfect timing to talk about prevention and how to spot the symptoms. Lauren, what do you recommend employers do to prevent heat illness?

LS: So we’ve added additional dates to our Heat Illness Prevention webinar schedule to give employers and employees the opportunity to take the course.

AB: Do you have to be a Rancho Mesa client to register for heat illness prevention?

LS: No, anyone can visit RanchoMesa.com and click on workshops and webinars to register for the webinar.

AB: We’ll also put a link the episode notes where listeners can register for the webinar. What other resources are available to our listeners?

LS: Listeners can view SafetyOne™’s Extreme Heat Checklist that covers best practices to follow before and during heat exposure, as well as protocol for heat illness incidents. And, we can add a link to that document in the episode notes, as well.

AB: This was a good reminder for everyone that we’re still in our hot season, people are susceptible to heat illness, we need to be vigilant and avoid becoming complacent about this workplace danger. Lauren, thanks for joining me in StudioOne.

LS: Thanks Alyssa.

AB: This is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa. Thanks for tuning into our latest episode produced by StudioOne. For more information, visit us at rachomesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.