Construction workers are being urged to take multiple breaks and exercise caution in the blazing sun as the heat continues to complicate their work and that of first responders.
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“We have the sun hitting us from behind and reflecting off the heat from the ground. The ambient temperature of a roof is 50 to 90 degrees, not counting the torches used for welding. We’re dealing with some pretty intense heat that’s part of our daily lives,” Montreal-North Coverage team leader Kevin Gordon told TVA Nouvelles on Saturday.
To make up for the delay of recent weeks due to the heat, particularly due to breaks being multiplied by workers, his team was busy on Saturday repairing the roof of a secondary school in Laval.
To ensure the health and safety of these employees, who are at risk of heat stroke, a mobile trailer was installed on the premises in addition to a garden hose, inviting employees to cool off, take breaks and drink water.
“There are things to consider. If you have frequent headaches, and they do so when it’s hot, it may not be your daily headache, but heat stroke. […] You have to be careful there,” the team leader continues.
But not only construction workers are directly affected by the heat: the sun also makes the work of the first responders more difficult.
Because although paramedics are used to working during heat waves every summer, extended deployments in small apartments that are poorly ventilated or without air conditioning remain a major challenge.
Additionally, calls tend to increase during heat waves when a greater number of citizens experience heat stroke. Added to this is the already vulnerable population, whose health is even more precarious and who are directly affected.
All of this directly increases the workload of paramedics.
In Montreal, there have been as many as 20 surgeries for heat stroke alone, not counting medical cases made worse by the heat, said Urgences-health spokesman Jean-Pierre Rouleau.