Miron Construction workers at a jobsite. Aug. 22, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) –Heat indices are expected to reach triple digits for the middle of this week all over Northeast Wisconsin.
Miron Construction, a local construction company, says their workers have means to cope with the steamy conditions ahead.
“Obviously, we allow employees to take as many breaks as they need to throughout the day, especially on hot days,” said Brandon Blank, director of risk management.
Blank says if they can, they want to take out their employees out of the hot weather conditions.
“Either we’ll postpone some work activities if it’s really strenuous — a concrete pour, something like that. We’ll take them right out and just plan it for a later date,” Blank said.
The company also encourages employees to adjust their times by coming in earlier in the morning in order to beat the heat.
Blank said, “Typical hours are 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. We’re going to try to bump that up, maybe start at 5 o’clock when the light is good enough.”
Miron also provides supplies for personal protection, such as sunscreen wipes, neck shades with their hard hats, and sunglasses.
“We provide them with cool drinking water. We have supplements that they can put in their water — Gatorade, things like that. Air conditioned job trailers. If we need to use a building that we’re working next to to get some shade and some cool, we will do that as well,” explained Blank.
Employees also are encouraged to look out for each other.
Blank said, “If they see odd behaviors, anything like that, make sure you get that person to a cool spot because a heat-related illness is a medical emergency at some points. So we need to treat it as such, and they’re all preventable. We want to make sure that all our employees go home safe.”
Click here to view the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) webpage on heat, and click here to view OSHA’s webpage on how “extreme heat can be deadly to workers.”
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