Northern Stevedoring Services workers are being asked to ramp up the awareness factor along with the SPF sunscreen factor over coming weeks.
It comes with series of Bureau of Metrology (BoM) warnings to Queenslanders in various parts of the state of damaging winds and large hail to an increased risk of heat stress as above-average temperatures continue in the lead-up to summer.
The BoM says severe to extreme heatwave conditions are building over northern, central and eastern Queensland.
The BoM defines a heatwave as lasting for three or more days and staying hot at night.
The BoM forecasts that temperatures are likely to also be above-average in Queensland from December to February.
Starting the day dehydrated
Symptoms of heat stress include a range of progressive conditions such as dehydration, fainting, heat rash, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
Most of us go to work mildly dehydrated by about three per cent of our body weight, according to Thorzt hydrating product manager David Rhodes.
That was a critical level when it came to affecting cognitive ability and situational awareness, Mr Rhodes said.
“We don’t understand that mild dehydration at three per cent is the equivalent of having a blood alcohol reading of 0.08 percent for delayed reaction time,” he said. “Where does that put us for our operational ability in our daily work environment every day?
“No one really understands that we just need to drink consistently during the day,” he said.
“When we start to feel thirsty, we’re already slightly dehydrated.
“Depending on what sort of work we’re doing, we’re already wearing longs onsite. More often than not we’re wearing maybe some sort of head protection.
“Our body’s losing its way of keeping itself cool normally and in a hot environment, so we’re already losing more fluids than we think need to replace.”