Definition of Terms
- Acclimatization
- means temporary adaptation of the body to work in the heat that occurs gradually when a person is exposed to it. Acclimatization peaks in most people within four to fourteen days of regular work for at least two hours per day in the heat.
- Active Cooling Equipment
- means clothing or powered devices (passive or active) that work to provide body core cooling when worn by an employee.
- Heat Illness
- means a serious medical condition resulting from the body's inability to cope with a particular heat load, and includes heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heat syncope and heat stroke.
- Environmental risk factors for heat illness
- means working conditions that create the possibility that heat illness could occur, including air temperature, relative humidity, radiant heat from the sun and other sources, conductive heat sources such as the ground, air movement, workload severity and duration, protective clothing and personal protective equipment worn by employees.
- Full-body Protective Clothing
- means clothing or a protective suit that can provide a protective barrier to prevent dermal contact with a full range of materials from ordinary non-hazardous soiling agents to aggressive hazardous material/chemical substances. This suit provides body protection including head (hood) and feet (integrated booties).
- Personal risk factors for heat illness
- means factors such as an individual’s age, degree of acclimatization, health, water consumption, alcohol consumption, caffeine consumption, and use of prescription medications that affect the body’s water retention or other physiological responses to heat.
- Preventative recovery period
- means a period of time to recover from the heat in order to prevent heat illness.
- Shade
- means blockage of direct sunlight. Canopies, umbrellas and other temporary structures or devices may be used to provide shade. One indicator that blockage is sufficient is when objects do not cast a shadow in the area of blocked sunlight. Shade is not adequate when heat in the area of shade defeats the purpose of shade, which is to allow the body to cool. For example, a car sitting in the sun does not provide acceptable shade to a person inside it, unless the car is running with air conditioning.