The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is offering new training to help miners better handle incidents of heat stress, a growing workplace safety concern in mining and across other industries.
The program, Keeping Cool: Training to Reduce Heat Stress Incidents, is being made available for free online and includes activities designed to promote better understanding of the risk factors and signs and symptoms relating to heat illness for those working in underground mines.
Workers in industries such as mining who face increasing exposure to occupational heat stress are at a greater risk for developing heat-related illnesses and injuries, researchers wrote on the NIOSH blog Tuesday.
“All miners should be trained on heat stress, a growing issue as underground mines extend to hotter, deeper areas and surface mines experience more frequent and intense heat waves,” researchers wrote.
Heat-related illnesses include heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps and heat rashes.
The new NIOSH module allows those at mining sites to undergo training on heat stress without having to have a heat expert on hand.
NIOSH researchers say heat can affect workers differently and miners must be aware of the dangers that could place them at risk of developing a serious heat illness.