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• Treating patients in
severe pain or distress
• Treating staff injuries,
patrons they know
personally, or campers
they are close to
• Fatalities
• Severe weather events
• Get staff comfortable talking to each other about how the rescue went,
analyzing their choices and actions, learning from each other, and building
trust as a team.
Providing Further Resources
• Consider working with an Employee Assistance Program provider to provide
staff with anonymous counselling services.
• Help the staff apply for WSIB benefits if their mental heath prevents them
from returning to work due to a traumatic event at work. Remember that in
Ontario, chronic mental stress and post-traumatic stress in the course of
employment are potentially compensable injuries, and accessing WSIB benefits
can give staff access to support resources.
Resources
• Lifesaving Society: Critical Incident Stress
• Rescuing the Rescuers| Aquatics International Magazine
9. Heat Stress and Sun Exposure
Hazards Prevention Tips
Working outdoors at waterfronts
in hot and humid weather can
result in an increase in body
temperature. If there is too great
a rise in internal body
temperature and the body
cannot effectively cool itself,
heat illnesses ranging from
rashes, cramps and fatigue, heat
exhaustion, and even heat stroke
leading to death can result.
Exposure to ultraviolet radiation
can contribute to sun burns and
sun stroke short term and to skin
cancer later in life.
Main contributing factors to
heat stress and sun hazards at
waterfronts include:
• Long hours outdoors,
especially for multiple
days in a row
• Lack of shade –
waterfronts are outdoor
spaces that frequently
Policies and Procedures
• Develop written heat stress policies and safe work procedures specific to the
tasks and activities of staff.
• Develop a sun safety policy and program.
Training
• Train on heat stress symptoms, how to prevent it, and what to do if someone
starts showing symptoms. Heat stress training is particularly critical for young
and new workers, as well as all manual workers. Research shows that heat
strokes, sunstrokes and other heat illnesses disproportionately affect those on
the job less than two months.
• Train staff to check in on each other regularly – individuals may not recognize
heat stress symptoms in themselves that others are more likely to notice.
• Train workers on sun safety, including short and long-term effects of UV
radiation. Train workers on the use of sun-protective clothing and sunscreen.
Most users do not use enough lotion to provide the listed protection level, fail
to rub it in sufficiently, nor do they reapply it often enough.
Protective Equipment, Clothing, and Materials
• Choose self-inflating, vest-style PFDs for maintenance work where workers are
not expected to enter water. Their open back style and low bulk minimize heat
retention. More traditional styles using foam padding for buoyancy, while
appropriate for water-entry activities, can act as an insulator.
• Provide light, moisture wicking, and breathable uniforms. Choose uniforms
with full back and short sleeves rather than tank tops.
