According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, more than 40% of heat-related worker deaths occur in the construction industry.  As with all incidents, heat illness is entirely preventable, provided you develop and implement the appropriate preventive measures. 

On July 15, OSHA released additional materials to educate the workforce on heat illness prevention. These resources include:

• A 60-second public service announcement on heat illness prevention
  • English: Recording | Transcript
  • Spanish: Recording | Transcript
• An alert on working safely in hot weather in English and Spanish

These add to the materials OSHA issued on July 2, which include:

• Heath Safety Page: Learn about heat illness symptoms and prevention
• Heat safety educational and training materials
• Prevent Heat Illness at Work infographic (English and Spanish versions)
• Prevent Health Illness at Work pamphlet (English and Spanish versions)
• Prevent Health Illness at Work poster (English and Spanish versions)
• Videos and graphics that organizations can use in their publications or social media campaigns
• Additional resources page, which includes posters, pamphlet and fact sheets on heat illness prevention and safety

Visit osha.gov for heat planning and supervision and heat illness prevention guidance to help you protect your workers. Also, visit your app store to download the Heat Safety Tool smartphone app from the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health, which provides the heat index (temperature and relative humidity), symptoms of and first aid treatment for heat illness, FAQs and additional tips for working in the heat.