Heat-ready OHCs: a timely worker-health priority with corporatehealth.in and Plan My Health

Assess heat at the task, not just on a weather app

Air temperature alone does not describe the burden on a worker wearing protective clothing beside a furnace or lifting materials in humid conditions. Review radiant heat, humidity, workload, clothing and ventilation. Suitable occupational heat measurements, such as Wet Bulb Globe Temperature assessments, can help a competent team choose controls.

Use weather alerts alongside workplace assessments. Do not publish a single universal temperature at which every worker is safe or unsafe. Conditions and personal susceptibility vary; prevention decisions need a site-specific process.

Give prevention an owner outside the clinic

The OHC can identify illness and advise on health risks, but it cannot replace shade, ventilation or work redesign. Operations, contractors and the safety team should agree how work slows, moves or stops when conditions become hazardous.

• Provide accessible drinking water and cool or shaded rest areas.
• Reschedule strenuous tasks away from peak heat where practicable.
• Plan work-rest arrangements and gradual acclimatisation for new or returning workers.
• Use buddy checks and train supervisors to recognise early symptoms.
• Review heat burden from protective equipment without abandoning necessary protection.

Build a clinician-led surveillance and response plan

The occupational physician should review workers whose conditions, medicines or previous heat illness may increase risk, while keeping personal information confidential. Give staff a simple escalation process for dizziness, weakness, headache, nausea or unusual behaviour. Avoid a blanket 'heat fitness' certificate or indiscriminate testing as a substitute for controls.

Confusion, collapse, seizures or altered consciousness during heat exposure can signal a medical emergency. Activate emergency services, move the person to a cooler place if safe and begin cooling under trained first-aid protocols while arranging urgent care. Do not give oral fluids to someone who is unconscious or unable to swallow safely. This article is planning guidance, not individual medical advice.

Use OHC findings to improve the workplace

Review anonymised heat-related visits by work area, task and shift. Investigate clusters and adjust controls instead of attributing illness solely to worker behaviour. Record referrals and follow-up, then rehearse the ambulance pathway before hot-weather or shutdown work starts.

Ask corporatehealth.in / Plan My Health about an OHC scope that brings together medical staffing, worker counselling, relevant health surveillance and emergency referrals. Confirm the actual services and local availability with the provider. Share your heat sources, workforce, shifts and existing controls so the proposal is specific to your workplace.

Sources and further reading

• Corporate Health / Plan My Health: published service information
• Labour Ministry / PIB: workplace measures to mitigate extreme heat, April 2025
• NCDC: public-health advisory on extreme heat and heatwaves

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