Heat Illness Prevention Program

Date: April 8, 2025

Scope

This program applies to all University of Nevada, Reno employees who may be exposed to working conditions that create a reasonable likelihood of heat illness. This includes both indoor and outdoor workers. This program establishes procedures for preventing heat illness and responding to the symptoms of heat illness.

Responsibilities

Environmental Health & Safety Department

The Environmental Health & Safety Department (EH&S) maintains and communicates the requirements of this written program. EH&S will, upon request, aid in the identification of positions and job tasks that could result in exposure to conditions that may cause heat illness. EH&S routinely conducts workplace safety assessments to identify workplace hazards, potentially including conditions that may cause heat illness.

Supervisors

Supervisors of employees who may be exposed to conditions that could result in heat illness must:

• Ensure written job hazard analyses are completed for all tasks that could result in heat illness
• Oversee the implementation of protective measures
• Ensure employees are trained in the prevention and response to heat illness
• Serve as or appoint a designated person to carry out the duties described below

Designated Person

The designated person is authorized by a supervisor to:

• If an employee is experiencing signs or symptoms of heat illness that require an emergency response:
  • Contact emergency medical services or ensure that emergency medical services are contacted;
  • Provide, as promptly as possible, all information necessary to enable a provider of emergency medical services to reach the employee, including, without limitation, contact information and directions, or ensure that such information is provided as promptly as possible; and
  • Ensure that, if necessary and appropriate, the employee is transported to a location where a provider of emergency medical services is able to reach the employee.
• If an employee is showing signs of possible heat illness:
  • Monitor the employee to determine whether medical attention is necessary.
• Monitor the working conditions that could create occupational exposure to heat illness;
• Carry out the provisions of the written safety program that address occupational exposure to heat illness; and
• Appoint a designee as backup when appropriate who meets the same requirements as the designated person.

Job Hazard Analysis

Initial Analyses

Supervisors must ensure that a written job hazard analysis (JHA) is completed for job classifications where employees may be exposed to conditions that may result in heat illness for more than 30 minutes in any 60-minute period.

The JHA must identify:

• A list of all tasks and procedures, or groups of closely related tasks and procedures, performed by employees in which occupational exposure to heat illness may occur
• Working conditions that may contribute to heat illness, including:
  • Air temperature
  • Relative humidity
  • Radiant heat (e.g., from the sun, ovens)
  • Conductive heat (e.g., from hot surfaces)
  • Air movement
  • Workload severity and duration
  • Protective clothing and personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Measures to mitigate or eliminate heat illness hazards, prioritizing:
  1. Engineering controls
  2. Administrative and work practice controls
  3. Personal protective equipment (PPE)

Review and Revision

Job hazard analyses shall be reviewed and revised whenever a task or job materially changes or an accident or near-miss occurs that may be related to heat illness.

Control Measures

Supervisors should consider and implement the following measures to control the hazards of heat illness as appropriate:

Engineering Controls

• Use air conditioning.
• Increase general ventilation.
• Provide cooling fans.
• Run local exhaust ventilation where heat is produced (e.g., laundry vents).
• Use reflective shields to block radiant heat.
• Insulate hot surfaces (e.g., furnace walls).
• Stop leaking steam.
• Provide shade for outdoor work sites.

Administrative and Work Practice Controls

• Schedule hot jobs for cooler parts of the workday; schedule routine maintenance and

repair work during cooler seasons of the year when possible.

• Provide adequate, cool drinking water on the worksite that is easily accessible and permit employees to take frequent rest and water breaks.
• Use relief workers and reduce physical demands of the job.
• Use work/rest schedules.

Personal Protective Equipment

• Encourage the use of wide-brimmed hats and breathable light-colored clothing for work outdoors in the sun.
• Use loose-fitting reflective clothing designed to deflect radiant heat, such as vests, aprons, or jackets when working with high-heat equipment or processes.
• Consider providing cooling neck wraps or towels that can be frozen or soaked in ice water.

Health Risk Factors and Acclimatization

Heat affects individuals differently. Conditions such as pregnancy, obesity, heart disease, and chronic or acute illnesses may exacerbate the symptoms of heat illness. Older adults do not adjust as well as young people to sudden changes in temperature.

Medications, Alcohol, and Drugs

• Prescription medications including amphetamines, diuretics, antihypertensives, anticholinergics, and antihistamines can all increase the risk of heat illness.
• Caffeine and alcohol both have diuretic effects and can lead to dehydration.
• Recreational use of illegal drugs such as methamphetamine can be particularly hazardous when heat stress is present.

Acclimatization

New and returning workers are particularly susceptible to the effects of heat stress. This effect may also result in more pronounced symptoms of heat illness during outdoor work as the seasons change or during heat wave weather events.

• New workers should gradually increase their exposure over a seven to fourteen-day period, beginning with 20% of a normal workload and exposure to heat stress conditions.
• Current workers returning from an absence of three or more days should begin with 50% of the normal workload and exposure to heat stress conditions, gradually increasing to a full workload over a three-day period.

Indoor Work

The provisions of this program do not apply to workers assigned exclusively to indoor work environments (including motor vehicles) equipped with properly functioning climate control systems that effectively address the hazard of heat illness exposure.

If climate control systems become non-functional or do not effectively address the hazard of heat illness, supervisors must take actions to reestablish effective climate control and must implement measures to address hazards that could cause heat illness until such a time as the climate control system is again effective.