Muscat: Sultanate of Oman has seen remarkable increase in the temperatures over the last few days, the Ministry of Labour, represented by the Labour Directorate in the Governorate of Musandam, held an awareness campaign aimed at creating awareness among outdoor workers on how to deal with heat stress, heat stroke-related health issues and heat exhaustion at construction sites.
Construction workers, who are exposed to hot environments or extreme heat can be at risk of heat-related illnesses (HRIs) and injuries. Heat stress is the combination of a worker’s exposure to heat from physical activity, environmental factors, and their clothing which results in an increase in the body’s heat storage, known as the net heat load. Heat strain is the physiological response to heat stress when the body tries to increase heat loss to the environment in order to maintain a stable body temperature.
Many health experts have been advising employers to maintain preventive measures at these place, which are the following:
-Assess the risk.
-Limit the workers exposure to the sunlight.-
-Encourage hydration.
- Create a heat alert programme.
- Develop a plan to acclimatize workers to heat.
- Increase the size of the crew to reduce the workload on each worker.
- Stop working when they feel heat-related discomfort.
- Provide cool shaded or air-conditioned areas for resting
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