Heat Stress Fact Sheet

What is heat stress?

• When the body is unable to cool itself by sweating, several heat-induced illnesses such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion and the more severe heat stroke can occur.

What kind of heat disorders can occur?

Heat stroke is the most serious disorder associated with heat stress. It occurs when the body’s temperature regulation fails and body temperature rises to critical levels. It is a medical emergency that can lead to death. Heat exhaustion is a result of the combination of excessive heat and dehydration. Untreated, heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke. Heat cramps are usually the result of hard physical labour in a hot environment, often resulting from an imbalance of electrolytes in the body. Heat rashes are a common problem resulting from persistent wetting of clothing by evaporated sweat.

How am I exposed?

Any process or job site that is likely to:

• raise the worker’s deep core temperature
• operations involving high air temperatures,
• radiant heat sources,
• high humidity,    
• direct physical contact with hot objects,
• or strenuous physical activities

Have a high potential for inducing heat stress in employees.