Heat Illness Prevention

Preparation & Prevention: 

• The Heat Illness Prevention Procedure Manual (prepared by UC Davis EH&S), as well as training through the Learning Management System (LMS), can be accessed here. 

• Preventive measures: wearing proper PPE (e.g., sunblock, hat), establishing frequent work-rest cycles in shaded areas, staying hydrated, rotating tasks, and scheduling strenuous activities during cooler hours. Having hard ‘no-work’ temperature cutoffs can also help to prevent fieldwork during extreme heat conditions.  

• Being mindful and observing your composure in hot field work conditions is vital to recognize heat illness symptoms. . 

• For more guidelines, visit the Cal/OSHA Heat Illness Prevention webpage and take Wilderness First Aid training.

Risks: 

• Heat-related illnesses include everything from heat rash, fainting, heat cramps, to heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Heat stroke can result in death.

• Factors that can increase risk of heat illness: lack of physical fitness, obesity, dehydration, sunburn, and use of certain medications or substances (e.g. many SSRI’s, antibiotics, blood pressure medications, statins, NSAIDs).

Symptoms to look out for and appropriate response measures are outlined on the CDC Heat Illness webpage 

Risks: 

• Frostbite 

  • Frostbite is the freezing of skin and underlying tissues 

  • If severe, can lead to lifelong sensitivity of affected extremities or require amputation 

  • Most likely on extremities (fingers, toes) and face (nose, cheeks) 

  • Know the signs of frostnip vs. frostbite

  • Symptoms: 

    • ​​Redness, pain, white or gray-yellow skin, unusually firm skin, numbness, blisters 

• Hypothermia 

  • Early symptoms: feeling cold, uncontrollable shivering, feeling exhausted

  • Later symptoms: fumbling hands, unsteady gait, slurred speech, confusion, drowsiness, pale skin

  • Severe symptoms: slowed breathing or heart rate, dilated pupils, coma 

• If you are working on glaciers or sea ice, you must take training to understand ice dynamics and to safely travel on ice. 

• Always bring a pair of extra socks! 

Plan ahead

- Before embarking in fieldwork, it is important to outline the technical and real-world safety risks and preventive measures.

- Start the process of field safety planning as early as you can, as there can be lots of follow up steps that come up depending on the details of your fieldwork activities.

- The goal is to create a clear, organized plan around how specific aspects of safety and best practices tie into your fieldwork activities. This is where a Field Safety Plan comes in!

What is it and why do it?

- A Field Safety plan is a living document where you detail relevant safety-related information about your fieldwork.

- Brainstorming and planning for risks in the field can help reduce them, adapt, and increase awareness among team members as to how to handle an emergency.

- Although UC Davis does not require Field Safety Plans, people performing fieldwork should highly consider creating one.

Where to start?

- UCD has plenty of resources to help with this as well as equipment-lending libraries and emergency rescue services (see Quick Guide).

- The Quick Guide (linked below) is limited to general advice on the process of creating a safety plan and does not cover specific risk assessment, risk mitigation, training, equipment recommendations, etc.

- For more information on these topics, please review the websites linked in this document, the people mentioned, and the resources provided by the Field Safety Committee!

- Finally, reach out to fieldsafety @ ucdavis.edu for field plan consultations.

*This Quick Guide is limited to general advice on the process of creating a safety plan and does not cover specific risk assessment, risk mitigation, training, equipment recommendations, etc. For more information on these topics, please review the websites linked in this document, the people mentioned, and the resources provided by the Field Safety Committee!

PDF:

Example of a safety contact procedure:

1. Picking a reliable person to check-in with.

   1. Provide them with your field plan that details where you will be and what you will be doing.

2. Deciding how often and when you plan to send update messages.

3. Deciding how long after a missed check-in your safety contact should take next steps.

   1. Notifying your supervisor is a necessary step in the protocol.

4. Determining the best local contact who can physically check on your parking (or other rendez-vous) location. This will help to assess your location and if you are in need of help.

5. Determine the best emergency response unit to call - is it 911? Search and rescue? Coast Guard? Someone else?

6. Decide when and under what conditions to call emergency contacts for the crew.

   1. The contacts may have valuable information from recent contact with crew .

Choosing the members of this list is context-specific, but some helpful hints are:

• Include your PI and - if you have one - lab manager somewhere in your call chain

• Think carefully about where relatives, friends or partners are on this call chain and if they are equipped to help with that degree of responsibility and coordination

• Ensure everyone has each other’s contact information so that they can coordinate between people

• Include if you can people who can help you locally on your call chain

• Print out contact information in case crew phones/contact devices fail.

You will also want to establish check in protocols that are appropriate to your context and field activities. Please consult the office of field safety while creating your call chain and check in protocols. 

When picking an “on-shore” or “check-in” person, give them a copy of your field plan/schedule and communicate the following pieces of information:

1. WHERE WILL YOU BE?

   1. Provide them with lat/long information that they can communicate with emergency services. 

   2. Tell them where you are likely to have / not have cell reception.

2. WHEN ARE YOU CHECKING IN WITH THEM? WHEN SHOULD THEY EXPECT YOU?

   1. Options:

      1. When leaving for fieldwork

      2. When arriving at the field site

      3. When leaving the field site

      4. When back at home base

      5. Every so often (1 hour, 2 hours, every site change…)

3. HOW LONG TO WAIT AFTER A MISSED CHECK-IN?

   1. How long should the person wait to act after missed check-ins for each step?

4. WHAT ARE THE STEPS AFTER A MISSED CHECK-IN? 

   1. Options

      1. Call each field team member out in the field.

      2. Call a local person who can physically check on them.

      3. Call supervisor.

      4. Call police/warden/sheriff/search and rescue.

      5. Call the nearest hospital.

5. ROLE OF EMERGENCY CONTACTS?

   1. If you are collecting emergency contact information for your crew and passing those on to your on-call person, when should the on-call person contact them? What should be asked of the emergency contact (used to get medical insurance information, blood type, medications, allergies…) and what should the emergency contact be told?

      1. Note: When asking for emergency contacts make sure to inform your crew/team why you would contact them, and what sort of information is needed from them in the event of an emergency. People often put parents down despite their parents not being as involved in their lives…

      2. Scripts for what to say in the event of an emergency can help reduce stress for the on-shore or check-in person in the event of an emergency.

When making these decisions make sure to consider the time to rescue if rescue is needed and the time of day influencing rescue options (if getting close to sun-down may need take steps faster if rescue services not available at night).