Metalworkers are exposed to a wide range of dangers daily that can cause severe burns, respiratory conditions, and damaged vision. While the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) can insulate people from physical contact with fire and molten metals, heat stress can sneak up on unsuspecting workers.

With too many metal workers suffering debilitating conditions and fatalities each year, heat safety for metalworking has become a hot-button issue. By better understanding the risk and environmental factors, safety protocols for heat management for high temperature work can reduce the number of injuries and deaths.

What is Heat Stress?

Heat stress occurs when the body is exposed to extreme temperatures, often coupled with high humidity and vigorous physical activity. This perfect storm results in the body’s core temperature rising and natural heat-reducing protections — primarily sweat — being unable to restore healthy internal levels.

The inability to regulate bodily temperatures has a harmful effect that can lead to significant ailments or heat-stroke deaths. But before heat stress reaches a critical state, there are usually telltale signs a metalworker is in trouble. These include the following.

  • Profuse Sweating
  • Cool, Moist Skin
  • Dizziness and Fatigue
  • Cramping Muscles
  • Headaches and Nausea
  • Rapid Heart Rate

 

Performing tasks while enduring extreme heat can cause muscle spasms as an individual’s electrolytes become imbalanced. As the body continues to overheat, people experience dizziness and then the confusion associated with sometimes life-threatening heat stroke. It’s also important to keep in mind that heat-related dizziness and confusion in already hazardous metalworking operations create an imminent risk of accidents and injuries.

Common Metalworking Tasks that Expose Workers to High Heat

There are few trades that must emphasize heat safety more than metalworking. Many of the active and relatively passive responsibilities place crew members in close proximity to extreme heat. While the emergence of heat stress conditions usually requires high-temperature settings and rigorous activity, dehydration can also result in ailments. That being said, these are tasks that greatly increase the risk of heat-related conditions among metal workers.

  • Welding
  • Pouring Molten Metal (Casting)
  • Melting Raw Materials (Smelting)
  • Tending to Furnaces
  • Handling Slag
  • Forging
  • Quenching

 

It’s essential to consider that workers are exposed to incredibly intense temperatures during smelting and casting processes. For example, Tungsten steel requires heat of at least 6,150 degrees Fahrenheit, iron calls for 2,200 degrees, and aluminum ranks among the low-temperature smelting metals, exposing workers to upwards of 1,220 degrees.

Given that core body temperatures that exceed 109 degrees put people at risk of heat stroke, it’s easy to see why metal workers perform their duties under threat of illness or death every day.

Measuring Workplace Heat Stress Exposure

Arriving at an objective metric to determine heat stress dangers remains critical in the metalworking sector. The most common method for measuring heat exposure limits is the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) index.

The WBGT formula accounts for temperature, air flow rates, radiant heat, sunlight, and natural bodily cooling processes, i.e., sweat. As a metalworking safety tool, the WBGT table also takes into consideration workloads, PPE, safety clothing, and engineering controls, among others.

Safety Protocols for Metal Workers

Approximately one-third of all heat stress conditions are suffered by workers in the Americas, according to an International Labor Organization report. Although these lost lives are not exclusive to the metalworking sector, they highlight a problem that persists in seemingly developed countries with stringent workplace safety standards. That’s why safety managers and on-site supervisors must ensure that adequate engineering controls, PPE, and other protections remain in place at all times.

Engineering Controls

Implementing effective engineering controls modifies the metalworking landscape to create a safe and productive environment that supports the well-being of employees. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends that facilities maintain temperatures no higher than 76 degrees whenever possible, minimize pollutants, and reduce humidity to acceptable levels. A combination of the following is crucial to achieving workplace safety.

Ventilation Systems

Removing hot air and pulling in cool, fresh air is an integral control that helps reduce temperatures. Companies typically need to install exhaust fans in areas where workers carry out tasks that generate smoke and fumes or release excessive heat.

Thermal Barriers

Integrating thermal barriers helps reduce the amount of time metal workers experience direct heat from furnaces and other hot work processes. Insulation and barriers remain key engineering controls in the industry.

Cooling Systems

Smelting and casting call for heat that runs into thousands of degrees. Tamping down temperatures requires powerful commercial air conditioning systems to lower the threshold to acceptable levels.

Access to Hydration and Cooling Off Breaks

Breaking up the periods of time metal workers are exposed to extreme heat allows their bodies to regain healthy core temperatures. Mapping out scheduled breaks and making water and other hydration fluids readily available can prevent unnecessary heat stress conditions. Policies such as insisting staff members drink a cup of water 3–4 times per hour and retreat to a cool break room are tried-and-true measures.

Ergonomic Strategies

Because exertion contributes to heat stress, metalworking operations have two good reasons for implementing ergonomic strategies. First, lowering the number of movements workers require to get tools or move materials reduces their physical strain. These same strategies also improve productivity. Things like better-organized tool displays and deploying anti-fatigue mats help minimize fatigue.

Heat Safety Training and Awareness

Having a company policy that speaks to heat safety does not go far enough. That’s largely because workers focus on tasks at hand, and even written protocols fade from memory. Conducting mandatory safety programs reinforces the need for smart decision-making in terms of how to avoid overexposure, dehydration, and other critical steps. Providing regular training sessions tends to underscore the importance an organization places on best practices and builds a culture of safety.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Personal protective equipment and clothing are non-negotiable workplace safety assets. They are the first line of defense against heat-throws and the right products are certified flame resistant. By that same token, poorly manufactured PPE and clothing can exacerbate heat stress and other conditions. These are products metalworking outfits would be well served to stockpile for members of their workforce.

  • Heat-Resistant Clothing: Flame-resistant materials are well-suited for smelting, casting, welding, and others. The fibers provide a protective barrier from molten splatter and won’t melt.
  • Head and Face Protection: Helmets and goggles are standard PPE for metal workers. These protections must prove resistant to high temperatures. Eye protections, such as goggles, typically need to be tinted to prevent arc flash and deter harsh UV radiation from impairing vision.
  • Footwear:It’s not enough to adorn sturdy footwear in a metalworking environment. Thick boots must also deter molten metal spills, and the soles must not melt under extreme heat.
  • Respirators: Non-combustible masks and respirators are standard defenses that protect the lungs from inhaling toxic fumes, airborne particles, and smoke.
  • Gloves: Burns to the hands are among the most common in metalworking operations. Certified welders’ gloves are an ideal solution for many metalworking tasks.

During safety training sessions, it’s generally prudent to highlight the OSHA-required protections that are in place. Point out where fire extinguishers, water stations, break areas, first aid kits, and eye-flushing stations are located.

Reducing workplace injuries and fatalities is in the best interest of metalworking companies and staff members alike. Given the stringent federal and state regulations businesses must adhere to, the employees in the Americas suffering 33 percent of all workplace deaths is unreasonable.