'Workers are potentially at risk': B.C. businesses asked to consider heat wave closures

Vancouver -

The heat wave shattering temperature records across much of British Columbia has prompted concerns about the potential for weather-related injuries in some workplaces.

On Monday afternoon, WorkSafeBC called on businesses to consider voluntary workplace closures if they can't ensure employees are protected from possible heat stress, which occurs when one's body heats up faster than it can cool itself down.

"All workers are potentially at risk," Al Johnson, WorkSafeBC's head of prevention services, said in a news release.

"If an employer cannot be assured that workers will be protected against heat stress, they should seriously consider shutting down their workplace during this extreme heat."

The recommendation followed one day after a whopping 60 temperature records were broken in the province, including in Lytton, where the mercury reached 46.6 C – topping the all-time Canadian record high of 45 C set in Saskatchewan more than 80 years ago.

Businesses in B.C. are required to conduct heat stress assessments, and have a mitigation plan in place that "provides education and training in recognizing the symptoms of heat stress and heat stroke," according to WorkSafeBC.

The symptoms of heat stroke include rapid breathing, confusion, an unusual lack of sweating and seizures. It can also lead to cardiac arrest.

Officials warned that heat stress can also lead to heat exhaustion, which may cause excess sweating, dizziness, fainting and muscle cramps.

WorkPlaceBC said it has accepted almost 100 claims for preventable work-related injuries caused by heat stress over the last three years.

The record-breaking heat wave already prompted school closures across B.C.'s Lower Mainland on Monday, and wreaked havoc on some crops in the Fraser Valley.

Environment Canada has indicated the heat wave could begin to ease as early as Tuesday on the South Coast, but last into next week in some areas.

Senior climatologist David Phillips cautioned that climate change tend to make heatwaves and other weather events more volatile and extreme, likening it to "steroids for weather."

“It may not take 84 years to break the all-time record again," Phillips told CTVNews.ca over the weekend.

With files from The Canadian Press