Prevention Tips for Heat-Related Illnesses in Farm Workers

Jul 21, 2023

Heat-related illnesses can be serious and even fatal, especially for farm workers who are exposed to hot weather and strenuous activity.
There are a number of things that employers can do to help prevent heat-related illnesses, such as providing cool, potable drinking water, requiring employees to take breaks, and providing shade for rest periods.
Farmer should also be trained in the symptoms of heat-related illnesses and what to do if they experience them. By taking these steps, employers can help create a safer work environment for their employees and reduce the risk of heat-related illnesses.
Here are some tips for preventing heat-related illnesses in farm workers:
•   Require employee to take breaks: Farm workers should take frequent breaks in cool, shaded areas.
•   Provide shade for employees during rest periods: This could include planting trees, erecting shade structures, or providing portable shade tents.
•   Develop a heat illness prevention plan: This plan should include steps to identify and monitor at-risk employees, provide training on heat-related illnesses, and ensure that there is a system in place to respond to heat-related illnesses.
•   Train your supervisors in heat-related illness prevention: Supervisors should be able to recognize the symptoms of heat-related illnesses and know how to respond.
•   Incorporate regular worksite heat illness monitoring into your supervisors' job duties: This could involve checking employee temperatures, monitoring hydration levels, and looking for signs of heat stress.

If you experience any of the symptoms of heat-related illness, such as dizziness, nausea, or headache, stop working and seek medical attention immediately.

By following these tips, you can help keep yourself and your coworkers safe from heat-related illnesses.

Video: Finding a Balance of Innovation and Regulation - Dr. Peter Facchini

Regulations help markets and industry exist on level playing fields, keeping consumers safe and innovation from going too far. However, incredibly strict regulations can stunt innovation and cause entire industries to wither away. Dr. Peter James Facchini brings his perspective on how existing regulations have slowed the advancement of medical developments within Canada. Given the international concern of opium poppy’s illicit potential, Health Canada must abide by this global policy. But with modern technology pushing the development of many pharmaceuticals to being grown via fermentation, is it time to reconsider the rules?

Dr. Peter James Facchini leads research into the metabolic biochemistry in opium poppy at the University of Calgary. For more than 30 years, his work has contributed to the increased availability of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic genes to assist in the creation of morphine for pharmaceutical use. Dr. Facchini completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto before completing Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in 1992 & Université de Montréal in 1995.