New, Free App Predicts Workers’ Heat-Stress Risk in Real Time

On the heels of a proposed federal heat standard, a new free app has been released to help employers gauge workers’ potential heat stress before starting work, as well as throughout the day.

The proposed OSHA standard would require employers, including construction contractors, to take a variety of steps to protect workers when heat indexes reach 80 degrees and above. For more details on the proposal, click here.

The AIHA app “can more accurately gauge heat stress risks in real time unlike any tool offered previously,” says Lawrence D. Sloan, CEO of AIHA, an association for scientists and professionals focused on occupational and environmental health and safety.

The app is currently in beta testing, and AIHA is seeking feedback from users until it is scheduled to be fully launched in September.

“We encourage outdoor workers and employers, large and small, to test our new app during this beta phase and provide us with feedback to help us fine tune the app’s functionality to better protect workers from heat-related illnesses,” Sloan says.

The free app can be downloaded for iOS and Android devices and allows users to input information to determine their overall risk for heat stress. It provides a variety of parameters for workers or managers to input to calculate the risk:

• Location (multiple locations can be selected)
• Intensity of workload (users can select light, moderate, heavy, very heavy)
• Clothing type (uses can choose from six different options)
• Cloud coverage (degree of sun exposure)
• Preferred language (English, Spanish, French, or Portuguese)

From the data provided and the user’s local National Weather Service forecast, the app calculates the user’s Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature in real time, as well as forecast it up to five days ahead. WBGT is one of the measurements mentioned in the proposed OSHA standard for determining workers’ risks before they go to work and while they're working. It incorporates air temperature, relative humidity, wind and radiant heat.

“Based on this calculated risk, the app delivers important notifications and reminders, including health recommendations such as rest breaks and water consumption based on an individual’s risk level, recommended heat stress prevention measures, warning signs of heat-related illness, and first aid recommendations to assist a worker in distress,” AIHA says.

The app was developed by occupational heat safety experts from the AIHA’s Thermal Stress Working Group and in partnership with East Carolina University. The app can assess weather data throughout North, Central and South America and plans are underway to launch it globally, according to AIHA.

AIHA notes that its Heat Stress Mobile App is not a replacement for the OSHA/NIOSH app, but that it “is a more advanced version that both employees and employers can use with additional tools designed to calculate high and extreme heat stress risks more accurately for workload types.”