Hot Jobs- Heat & Work with Dr. Maeve McMurdo

One of my more striking memories as an ICU doctor was a heat dome that occurred early in June one year where temperatures soared to 116 in the Pacific Northwest, and my ICU quickly filled with people sickened by the heat, and some didn’t make it. I’ve also had a family member suffer from heat illness, and it can be very scary even when you know what is going on. 

With increasing global temperatures, how do we keep our communities safe, especially for those who are working outdoors? For this post and podcast episode, I talked to Dr. Maeve MacMurdo, an occupational and environmental pulmonologist at the Cleveland Clinic. She is an expert in how jobs can affect our health and heat impacts at work. I left our conversation hopeful that there are simple steps we can take to protect health. Also, she has a great accent, so it’s always fun to talk to her!

She provided a great deal of resources, and educated about the heat index, including from OSHA, NIOSH and the CDC. You can see the “To Do” section to learn more about these options, as well as where to get helpful information about keeping workers safe in heat. 

Summer is coming, and I hope this episode provided ideas on how to stay safe while working outdoors in hot weather. As in everything with the air around us, illnesses caused or worsened by unhealthy air or temperatures not only affect our communities, but they affect our economy when people can’t work or when people get sick. So it is in all of our best interests to work together to keep people safe.

TLDR= Know the heat index!

To Do

  • Learn more about heat from episode “Heat Kills” with Ollie Jay and strategies for summer, including how to avoid overheating and not over cooling your home in a potentially risky way
  • Learn more about ozone from the “True Cost of Ozone episode” with Dr. Nassikas
  • Ensure where you work has a heat standard- even if you work indoors, know what the plan for power outages, and more
  • Find out whether there are occupational standards in your county or state to protect your outdoor workers- consider advocating for one if you don’t have one
  • Check out heat.gov to learn more and have additional resources
  • Download the “Heat” app from OSHA and NIOSH for heat index resources and recommendations. You can also learn more about the Heat Index.
  • You can review ATS comments to OSHA by Dr McMurdo and others at this link.

References

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Roof worker photo by David Geneugelijk on Unsplash

Street construction photo by Estefania Ruiz on Unsplash

Agriculture photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

 

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