A free tool for employers of young workers

Build your workplace heat Emergency Action Plan

For anyone who hires or supervises teens and young adults: summer jobs, camps, parks and recreation, landscaping, food service, field crews, construction, and farm work. Fill in your sites, your people, and your heat plan. Then download a finished plan and a Speak Up card for your crew.

Cool First. Transport Second.

A Youth Safety Alliance tool

In an emergency, call 911. This tool is for planning and education. It does not replace medical or legal advice.
A plan is best practice, even where it is not required. Most states do not require a written heat emergency plan, and there is no final federal heat standard yet. A few states do require heat emergency procedures, and the details differ. This builder follows best practice either way. Check your state's rules and add anything they require.
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Workplace

Your organization's name goes on every page of your plan and on the Speak Up card.

Work sites

Add every place your crew works: parks, fields, camps, kitchens, job sites, farms. Emergency crews need an exact address, or a GPS pin where there is no address, and the entrance they should use.

Work covered

Check the kinds of work this plan covers.

Work covered by this plan
Workers under 18 have extra protections under federal and state child labor laws.
The plan is

People and roles

Name a person and a backup for every role, on every shift. Write in names, not just job titles.

First aid or medical contact

Training

Speak Up: for every worker

Make asking normal

Many young workers do not ask for what they need. They worry about looking weak, slow, or like trouble. Tell them, and show them, that asking is always OK. Print the Speak Up card and walk through it with your crew on day one.

Speak up. It is always OK to:

    Tell someone now if you or a coworker:

      Who workers tell

      For example: raise a hand and say “cooling off.” Anyone can use it, any time, no explanation needed.
      Supervisors: make asking normal

      Employer pledge

      Check each promise you will keep. Checked promises print on your plan and on the Speak Up card.

      Our pledge to every worker
      Good to know. Federal law protects workers from retaliation for reporting a work-related injury or illness, and for raising a safety concern, including with their employer. Workers under 18 also have extra protections under federal and state child labor laws. See OSHA: worker rights and U.S. Department of Labor: child labor.

      Water, shade, rest, and supplies

      Everything on this list is at the site and ready before the shift starts, not back at the shop.

      Supplies at every site

      Heat conditions and breaks

      Check the heat before every shift and keep checking during it. Decide ahead of time what changes at each level, and move to the stricter level as soon as the reading goes up.

      Heat measurement used

      The heat index is measured in the shade and can read low in full sun. Wet bulb globe temperature counts sun, wind, and humidity. If your state has a heat rule, use the measure it names.

      Our heat trigger levels

      Every reading is blank on purpose. If your state has a heat rule, enter its numbers. If not, set them with a medical or safety adviser. For help, see OSHA's heat safety pages and the National Weather Service heat safety page.

      For example: your state's heat rule, or the adviser who set them.
      Build up time in the heat gradually over the first 1 to 2 weeks. OSHA and NIOSH suggest no more than 20 percent of a normal day in the heat on day one, adding about 20 percent each day.
      Before every shift

      Heat stroke and cooling steps

      Early warning signs

        Heat stroke warning signs

        Heat stroke is a medical emergency.

          When in doubt, treat it as heat stroke. A worker may still be sweating and still be talking. Start cooling right away. Never leave a sick worker alone or send them home alone.

          One worker down: Cool First, Transport Second

            Cool First. Transport Second. Published heat stroke guidance: start cooling within 10 minutes, reach 102°F within 30 minutes. 102°F is core body temperature. Confirm your targets with your medical adviser.

            Medical steps should be reviewed and approved by a physician, occupational health provider, or your local emergency medical services medical director.

            More than one worker down

            Plan for this before it happens

            On the hottest days, more than one worker can get sick at the same time. Decide now how you will cool two or three people at once, and practice it.

            Who cools each worker

            Extra help

            When more than one worker is down

              Getting ready

              Practice drill

              Medical steps should be reviewed and approved by a physician, occupational health provider, or your local emergency medical services medical director.

              Other emergencies and communication

              Lightning
              Cardiac arrest
              Injuries
              Severe weather and health needs
              Communication
              After an incident

              Annual review and sign-off

              Who signs this plan

              Enter names now. Signatures and dates go on the printed plan.

              Download your plan

              Your plan is created on this device with your organization's name on every page. The last page is a Speak Up card to post where workers take breaks. Any blank you skip prints as a line you can fill in by hand.

              WorkEAP · A Youth Safety Alliance tool · Cool First. Transport Second. · workeap.com