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. 2024 Apr 1;66(4):293-297.
doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000003051. Epub 2024 Jan 19.

Outcomes for a Heat Illness Prevention Program in Outdoor Workers: A 9-Year Overview

William B Perkison  1 , Caroline M Schaefer, Judith Green-McKenzie, Rachel White Roy, Frances S Shofer, Ronda B McCarthy
Affiliations

Outcomes for a Heat Illness Prevention Program in Outdoor Workers: A 9-Year Overview

William B Perkison et al. J Occup Environ Med. .

Abstract

Objective: To describe the outcomes effect of removing the medical surveillance component from a heat illness prevention program (HIPP) for outdoor workers from a Central Texas municipality.

Methods: Heat-related illness (HRI) frequency and workers' compensation (WC) cost were assessed retrospectively in a cohort of 329 workers from 2011-2019. During 2011-2017, the HIPP included training, acclimatization, and medical surveillance. In 2018-2019, a modified (mHIPP) was implemented that included training and acclimatization, but without medical surveillance.

Results: The HRI rate during HIPP averaged 19.5 per 1000 workers during the first 4 years, dropped to 1.01 per 1,000 workers over the next 3 years, (2015-2017), and increased during mHIPP, to 7.6 per 1,000 workers.

Discussion: Although the case increase during the mHIPP was small, medical surveillance may be an important component in lowering workforce HRI.

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Conflict of interest statement

Perkison, Schaefer, Green-McKenzie, Roy, Shofer, and McCarthy have no relationships/conditions/circumstances that present potential conflict of interest.

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