UPS recently announced it would equip delivery trucks with air conditioning. Dr. Douglas Casa, CEO of Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut, spoke with Cheddar News on the dangers of heat stroke and how workers can keep themselves safe from extreme weather.

<div class="block">UPS recently announced it would equip delivery trucks with air conditioning. Dr. Douglas Casa, CEO of Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut, spoke with Cheddar News on the dangers of heat stroke and how workers can keep themselves safe from extreme weather.</div>

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Keeping Employees Safe in Extreme Heat

The segment is brought to you by UPS delivering what matters for your career and for the world. Well, recently UPS agreed to equip all of its new delivery trucks with air conditioning to help drivers stay cool. Comes as the company negotiates a new contract with more than 300,000 union employees is partnering with Dr Douglas Casa, CEO of the Cory Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut to overhaul its approach to health and safety for employees. And that includes everything from education to training to new cooling gear. And more, I asked Dr Casa, an expert on heat safety about the biggest challenges in helping to protect drivers when you exercise in the heat, your body temperature rises faster than it normally would. Um And we know that, you know, heat stroke is, is one of the leading causes of exertional death for um for laborers in America. So the heat is, you know, certainly a risk. So there are certain things you can do to keep yourself safe that are simple. Um And that are cost effective and they're easy to implement. What are those moves? What should people do to keep themselves safe? Absolutely. Yeah. So there's five things I try to tell people to do. One is hydration, have cold fluids nearby all the time. Don't wait for breaks, don't wait for lunch, have drinks as you need them through the day. Number two, take rest breaks when you need them. Um, and if it's hotter out, have more rest breaks that are longer. Number three is, um, cooling strategies have, um, cooling to wet, cold, wet towels on you when you're able to, while you're doing your job or during breaks have cooling hats on or cooling shirts or arm sleeves or anything that you can do to keep yourself cold or you shade. Um, when possible. Another important one is phasing in activity in the heat, um, in the athletic world. Most of the heat stroke that's happened in the first few days. So we know there's more risk in the first few days in the heat. So go a little more gradual with your first intense days in the heat. Um, and then ramp it up over time. Another kind of hidden trick or gem is get yourself in good shape. Cardiovascular fitness is really protective and allows you to have a much enhanced exercise, heat tolerance. What can people like supervisors or coaches do to help keep people safe? Yeah, it's a great question. Um, one of the things is look out for people if they seem to be struggling a little, um, you know, take them out decrease their intensity, um protect them before it becomes more serious. But the most important thing they can do is have great policies and procedures in place. So have those breaks that I talked about have hydration accessible, have cooling strategies in place and most importantly, encourage them to use it. Um the people, the athletes and the workers will perform better and they'll be greatly reduced risk of heat stroke doctor, I see that you work out of a pretty harrowing personal experience. What happened? So I was running a 10-K race on the track as a high school track and field athlete. Um rising senior, I'd had the dream of competing in the Empire State Games, which is like a summer Olympic festival in New York. And I had finally qualified with my last chance to qualify senior year and in the final lap of a 25 lap race which is as boring as it sounds. Um I collapsed with 200 m to go, got up, collapsed again with 50 m to go. And then I was in a coma for the next few hours having suffered an exertional heat stroke. And I was super fortunate that the athletic trainer, the nurses and the emergency room physician um, did all the right things to save my life. And I've dedicated the last 38 years to try to maybe prevent other people from having a heat stroke. And if they do make sure they get the proper treatment. Wow. Well, we're happy that you're here today and sharing your tips, doctor. My final question is when you first got into this field, how much do we really know about how heat affects the body? And how are you applying that knowledge now for your work outside? Yeah. I mean, we've really certainly come a long way in the 38 years. I've been doing this, that the military, I think had a better head start with this information than the labor space and the athletic side of things. But we know a lot of great information. Now, the research um that we've done and many other great researchers have done, have shown that these cooling strategies, the hydration, the brakes, the heat acclimatization, they allow you to be safer in the heat. And it's just a matter of now making sure supervisors and, and the the participants themselves are, are, are using these strategies um to protect themselves. Doctor Casa, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me, sharing your own personal experience and all the great work that you're doing in this field. For more information about us and ways that you can deliver success visit, www dot great employer dot ups dot com. For more information about Dr Casa and the Corey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut visits I dot U dot E.