3 Reaons Monitoring CBRN Workers For Heat Stress Is Important

Introduction

Most people work in a relatively safe environment. In 2017 most jobs consist of office work or work that is done in a sedentary fashion. Even jobs that require blue collar labor are now considerably safe thanks to a plethora of safety precautions and research aimed at reducing work site deaths. However, one group of workers that are still incredibly susceptible to these types of tragedies are CBRN workers. These workers are the people who are responsible for doing some of the most difficult and dangerous jobs in the world. CBRN stands for people who work around chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear materials. These hazardous materials produce a work environment that is more dangerous than any other. For this reason, they should take as many safety precautions that they can. The biggest safety precaution that they should take is to monitor themselves for heat stress. Below is a list of three reasons why monitoring for heat stress in CBRN workers is so incredibly important.

Reasons Monitoring CBRN Workers For Heat Stress Is Important

  • Personal Protective Equipment Traps Heat
  • Workers Are Exposed To Hotter Than Usual Conditions
  • Early Warning Systems Help Save Lives

Reason 1 – Personal Protective Equipment Traps Heat

When working with these hazardous materials they have to wear a protective suit. These protective suits encase the entire body within them leaving no part of the body exposed. These suits naturally trap heat from the human body in the same way that a bed cover or a ski suit would. Therefore, they need to be monitored for heat stress for this reason alone.

Reason 2- Workers Are Exposed To Hotter Than Usual Conditions

When working with chemicals like this workers are often exposed to substances that become very hot and heat up the room around them. This is a result of the many chemical reactions that they carry out on a daily basis furthering the need for increased monitoring for heat stress while on the job.

Reason 3 – Early Warning Systems Help Save Lives

The biggest reason to have extra safety equipment on the scene is to reduce mortalities. Early warning systems are the best devices that can be used to reduce the number of tragedies that happen while working in these fields. The best early warning system to have for this line of work is heat monitoring.