The Heat Is On: Take Care Of Your Employees In The Summer By Mark Stewart At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Without bringing the touchy subject of global warming into it, the fact remains that temperatures in the summertime across America reach blistering heights each and every time the season comes around. For those business owners whose employees work in an air conditioned office from 9 to 5, it really makes no difference. But those types of businesses are comparatively few when compares to the vast number of businesses that call for employees to work outside, in a warehouse, or in some other kind of non climate controlled environment. For these companies, it is the duty of the management and the business owner to provide working conditions which meet and exceed what should be legally provided for workers in the heat of the day. For schoolkids, summer might mean a break from the grind and a chance to play until the sun goes down. For outdoor workers, it means another season of trying to stay hydrated while they bring home the bacon. Make sure you follow these guidelines to keep your employees cool when the summer temperatures begin to rise.

Employee safety has come to the forefront with a recent Bureau of Labor release which stated that there were over 2500 heat related work injuries in the year 2005. Most of these injuries or illnesses took place in the afternoon hours when the sun is at its most intense. If you have employees working under these conditions, it would behoove you to take note of this study and make sure you are taking advantage of every thing possible to make the workplace safe for your employees. Not only should you be concerned from a humanitarian point of view, but neglect in this area can and will eventually lead to a lawsuit. If such a case were to go before a jury and your workplace practices were brought under scrutiny, how would your policies hold up? In today’s climate, juries are predestined to sympathize with the worker. This is for no other reason than–by default–more of a jury’s makeup will consist of employees than employers. There are simply more of the former than the latter. If you want to win such a case, you’ll have to prove that every precaution possible was taken against such an injury or illness happening. And, let’s face it, if that was the case, the incident wouldn’t have happened. So make sure you’re prepared before hand.

Creating a safe work environment for your employees in the summer includes educating them on the things they need to do to stay hydrated. This also includes providing your employees with frequent breaks from the heat, providing them with free water or Gatorade, and saving the most labor intensive portions of the day’s work for the morning hours or the nighttime crew. There is no excuse for subjecting your workers to unsafe conditions. Just because it was what your father’s company did doesn’t mean it’s okay to do in the 21st century. Times they are changing and you’ll find yourself bankrupt and out on the street if you don’t change with them.

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