602 Heat and Cold Stress Safety

A farm worker died after succumbing to heat stroke while working in a tobacco field. He was assigned to work in the tobacco fields, where it was hot and humid with a heat index (a measure of the combined effects of high temperatures and high humidity on the body) between 100 and 110.

He had been working in a tobacco field when around 3 pm, he complained to the crew leader that he wasn't feeling well. The victim drank some water and was driven back to his housing and left alone to rest.

A short time later, he was found unconscious on the steps of the house. Emergency medical service (EMS) personnel were immediately called and responded within five minutes. The victim was taken to the hospital where his core body temperature was recorded at 108 Fahrenheit and was pronounced dead. Heat stroke was listed as the cause of death on the death certificate.

A laborer died from heat stroke after being taken to the hospital. The laborer was working on an addition to a factory sawing board to make concrete forms. He worked until 5:00 pm that day and was in the parking lot on his way to his car when he apparently collapsed.

A worker on the second shift at the factory was taking scrap material outside to a dumpster when he found the victim on the ground. The company receptionist called EMS and the supervisor went to the parking lot to administer emergency care to the laborer until EMS arrived.

When paramedics arrived, they recorded the laborer's body temperature as 107 Fahrenheit. He was transported to a local hospital where he died the next day with an internal body temperature of 108 Fahrenheit.