Ah. Heat stress.

[Pimento]

Well. It finally happened. I got a healthy dose of heat exhaustion. 12 hour shift. 38 degrees Celsius and relative humidity of 70%. I was doing a job that didn't allow for many heat breaks either. Woohoo.

At first I noticed little things. Dropping my knife. Sloppy driving of the forklift.

Last hour of the day. Holy shit. My hands cramped into claws and I got dizzy as all hell. So. Half a dozen ice packs and an ambulance ride (our medics didn't even have a thermometer or understanding of heat stress) I have a new respect for the heat and definitely will be perusing the issue at work a little harder.

[Seshat]

Even without heavy machinery, you can die of heat exhaustion.

[Food Lady]

Ugh; they should've given you heat breaks. I hope your employer learns from this. So glad you're ok. I've had a couple of episodes. When I was 6 I blacked out, but was still conscious. Another time I had visual disturbance, headache, and all that jazz. It's scary.

[Pimento]

Yeah. My line of work is kind of "non stop" you work for your breaks. Get ahead and you can sit. Unfortunately my relief left me shitty.

Hottest day if the year. The new exhaust fans they put in after 3 years if having broken ones went working. and the pulp machine was down (spewing out steam) so the humidity shot up. Woot.

Ended up ditching the hospital cause I felt ok and slept for 24 hours lol.

I attached a picture if a small section of the machine room. If there's any interest I'll get off my ass and get an aerial view lol. But even where I sit now. It's 35 degrees C.

[Food Lady]

Here you can report your job for being over 85°F. I have no idea what the laws are there. Well, if they were working on fixing it ASAP, I wouldn't report it.

[Pimento]

There's a chart we use

So right now it's 31 degrees with 40% humidity.

It's a 35 on that chart.

Anything that's 31.5 and up means you work for 15 mins and have a 45 min break in an air conditioned break room.

Unfortunately the nature of our work means that we'd be out of jobs if we followed those rules exactly. So even though its law. We're required to find a happy medium if we want to keep our very very well paying jobs.

[Food Lady]

If we had that chart we'd never get anything done, as the humidity here would cause everyone to be on break all the time. Sorry, customers; it's too hot to serve you.

[Pimento]

Yeah it's give and take. Unfortunately the paper never stops coming off of the machine. And we only have so many spools. Gotta keep this bitch running lol

[mathnerd]

Geeze, we'd never get anything done if our outdoor workers had to follow those rules in South Florida! Though I do agree that heat breaks are necessary, just maybe not quite that much. I've found that drinking very large amounts of very cold water, along with frequent, small salty snacks really helps when I have to work outside for extended periods of time. I'm glad you're okay now.

[Gerrinson]

Yeah, can't say that I miss working in a paper mill. It could get pretty hellish in there, even in mid-winter New England. Right now, it would be terrible.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. The guys at the mill used to give me a hard time about carting around or stashing water bottles at every workstation I touched. But I never passed out from the heat, either. Unlike some of the naysayers.

[Pimento]

Lol here the guys wouldn't do that...well they coukd try but I'm the big meany here lol. So they'd get hit.

If it weren't for the money I wouldn't be here though lol

[sylvier]

Well. It finally happened. I got a healthy dose of heat exhaustion. 12 hour shift. 38 degrees Celsius and relative humidity of 70%. I was doing a job that didn't allow for many heat breaks either. Woohoo.

At first I noticed little things. Dropping my knife. Sloppy driving of the forklift.

Last hour of the day. Holy shit. My hands cramped into claws and I got dizzy as all hell. So. Half a dozen ice packs and an ambulance ride (our medics didn't even have a thermometer or understanding of heat stress) I have a new respect for the heat and definitely will be perusing the issue at work a little harder.

Did the medics take you to a hospital? If so, you should be hearing from WorkSafe pretty soon. They'll open a file and check out your employer.

[Pimento]

Ambulance. And yes. But I wouldn't drag worksafe through the mill and loose 80-100k a year for 50 guys

[TopEndDave]

What about Ice Vests? Visiting sporting teams wear them here to keep the players cool.

[Food Lady]

^ Reminds me of a funny, but effective idea: ice cube bun. Someone had the idea to wear her hair in a bun and stick an ice cube inside. It really works. If you wear a hat, you could put ice cubes or a frozen teething ring under it.