May 05, 2010

It's May, and hot weather is just around the corner. Now is when many companies get ready to implement their heat-related illness prevention plans, which often include powdered and bottled sports drinks for worker hydration.

However, in addition to being rather expensive, sports drinks may not necessarily be the best option for helping your workers stay hydrated when working in hot environments. Consider the following:

Heat-related injuries and illnesses are 100% preventable. Join us on June 9 for an in-depth webinar on how to prevent them--and how to treat them if it does happen in your workplace.

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1. Rehydration: Sports drink claim that they provide better rehydration because of the carbohydrates and sodium they contain. And studies show that sports drinks do initially improve the absorption of liquid by the body. However, they do little or nothing to help the body retain it — meaning that it doesn't reduce the rate at which a worker gets dehydrated when working in the heat.

A worker drinking a sports drink will get dehydrated just as quickly as a worker drinking water. The key, then, is to ensure that workers continuously drink enough liquid when working in hot environments, regardless of whether it's a sports drink or water.

2. Electrolytes: Another marketing point for sports drinks is that they contain electrolytes like sodium and potassium, which are lost from the body when a person sweats. However, a normal, healthy diet generally provides enough sodium and potassium (which is largely found in meats and fruits) to replace what's lost through sweat.

If someone is on a low-sodium diet, slightly increasing the use of table salt in his or her meals generally provides sufficient supplementation. The caution here is workers who are on diuretics, other prescription medications, and even some over-the-counter antihistamines, many of which can make those taking them more prone to heat-related injury and illness, often because they deplete the body's supply of potassium.

Workers should be made aware of the potential these drugs have for causing sensitivity to heat-related illnesses and injury; you should encourage them to consult with their healthcare professional.

3. Taste: Workers will often drink sports drinks in larger quantities than water because they prefer the taste. If you're looking for a low-cost alternative to sports drinks, you can try flavoring water with lemon or other juices, or provide a cheaper beverage such as Kool-Aid.

Heat Illness: How To Prevent — and Treat — Dangerously Overheated Workers

With over 4,000 people succumbing to heat-related illness every year, and thousands more suffering from heat stress, it's important to make prevention your first line of defense. Sometimes working in hot conditions is unavoidable, but having solid procedures and a well-trained and observant staff can go a long way toward avoiding injury and even death.

Join us on June 9 for an in-depth webinar with two industry experts and an M.D. You'll learn how to address and prevent heat illnesses in your workplace. Don't forget to bring your managers along.

You'll learn:

• How acclimatization is vital for keeping workers safe
• The four essentials of heat illness prevention
• What Cal/OSHA requires of you in terms of keeping workers safe in the heat
• How to put together written procedures that comply with the standards and provide a backbone for a heat illness training program
• What the environmental risk factors are for heat illness
• How to preemptively change work conditions to avoid heat stress
• How to assess and evaluate work environment controls and whether they will reduce heat-related illnesses
• How to train your employees and managers to recognize the signs of heat stress, and what they should do before they do anything else
• What to do in the event of heat illness or emergency, and the necessary first aid steps to take to save lives

Register Now »

Learn More »