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Outcomes for a Heat Illness Prevention Program in Outdoor Workers: A 9-Year Overview
William B Perkison1, Caroline M Schaefer, Judith Green-McKenzie
1From the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, School of Public Health, Houston, Texas (W.B.P., R.W.R.); Department of Management, Policy, and Community Health, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, School of Public Health, Houston, Texas (C.M.S.); Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (J.G.-M.); Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (F.S.); and Concentra, Medical Surveillance Services, Irwindale, California (R.S.M.).
Objective:
To describe the outcomes effect of removing the medical surveillance component from a heat illness prevention program (HIPP) for outdoor workers from a Central Texas municipality.
Methods:
Heat-related illness (HRI) frequency and workers' compensation (WC) cost were assessed retrospectively in a cohort of 329 workers from 2011-2019. During 2011-2017, the HIPP included training, acclimatization, and medical surveillance. In 2018-2019, a modified (mHIPP) was implemented that included training and acclimatization, but without medical surveillance.
Results:
The HRI rate during HIPP averaged 19.5 per 1000 workers during the first 4 years, dropped to 1.01 per 1,000 workers over the next 3 years, (2015-2017), and increased during mHIPP, to 7.6 per 1,000 workers.
Discussion:
Although the case increase during the mHIPP was small, medical surveillance may be an important component in lowering workforce HRI.
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