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June 5, 2020 – Idealease Safety Bulletin ” What Are You Doing to Protect Your Employees from Heat Stroke and Exhaustion?”


The June 5th edition of the weekly Idealease Safety Bulletin has arrived! Find useful safety tips for all transportation professionals and stay up-to-date on recent updates and changes to industry regulations.  Be sure to sign up to receive our timely tips straight to your inbox each week!

Click here to download this week's edition, or click the thumbnail below for the PDF version to share with your team!

In this important issue, find information on the following items:

1.  CVSA "Operation Safe Driver Week" still planned to go on as scheduled July 12-18, 2020. 

2.  Heat Stroke and Exhaustion among employees - What are you doing to protect them? 

  • Official start of summer is coming up - June 20th - yet it is already warming up across the country. Time to inform employees about signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion!
  • Signs and symptoms:
    1. Fatigue, weakness, fainting
      2. Nausea and vomiting
      3. Headache
      4. Dizziness
      5. Muscle cramps
      6. Irritability
      7. Sweating (absence or presence)
      8. PalenessRemember, employees at a greater risk for heat exhaustion and heat stroke are those with: heart disease, skin diseases, extensive burns, endocrine disorders (hyperthyroidism, diabetes, etc.), high blood pressure, obesity, depression, insomnia, and fever.
  • What can you do to prevent them?
    • Use common sense.
    • Limit your exposure to direct sunlight as much as possible.
    • Drink more fluids (non-alcoholic); do not drink fluids that contain caffeine or large amounts of sugar. Sport drinks are good as they replace electrolytes and salt in your body. Avoid extremely cold fluids as these can cause stomach cramps. Drink often throughout the day 4-6 ounces at a time. WATER IS GOOD!
    • Wear lightweight, light colored, loose fitting clothing that does not create a safety hazard for your work environment. If outdoors, wear a hat to reduce direct exposure to the sun.
    • Make sure your employees are wearing sunglasses that provide UV protection and are impact resistant.
    • Avoid hot foods and heavy meals. They add heat to your body.
    • Drivers who are on routes should pack a cooler with water for the day. Also, keep an umbrella in the truck if you are operating in extreme conditions, (desolate, desert, etc.), this will allow you to move to an area with breeze and still be protected from the sun.
    • If exposure to the sun is inevitable, apply generous amounts of sunscreen with a high SPF rating to exposed skin.
    • Make sure your truck is in excellent condition. A good pre-trip inspection is crucial in extreme heat conditions to prevent breakdowns, otherwise you may find yourself and your unit on the side of the road exposed to the extreme heat.

3.  July is UV Safety Awareness Month! Get out the sunglasses: protect the eyes from UV rays in all situations by wearing proper eye protection!

Here are some tips from the American Academy of Ophthalmology:

  • Don’t focus on color or darkness of sunglass lenses: Select sunglasses that block UV rays. Don’t be deceived by color or cost. The ability to block UV light is not dependent on the price tag or how dark the sunglass lenses are.
  • Check for 100 percent UV protection: Make sure your sunglasses block 100 percent of UV-A rays and UV-B rays.
  • Choose wrap-around styles: Ideally, your sunglasses should wrap all the way around to your temples, so the sun’s rays can’t enter from the side.
  • Wear a hat: In addition to your sunglasses, wear a broad-brimmed hat to protect your eyes.
  • Don’t rely on contact lenses: Even if you wear contact lenses with UV protection, remember your sunglasses.
  • Don’t be fooled by clouds: The sun’s rays can pass through haze and thin clouds. Sun damage to eyes can occur anytime during the year, not just in the summertime.
  • Protect your eyes during peak sun times: Sunglasses should be worn whenever outside, and it’s especially important to wear sunglasses in the early afternoon and at higher altitudes, where UV light is more intense.
  • Never look directly at the sun. Looking directly at the sun at any time, including during an eclipse, can lead to solar retinopathy, damage to the eye’s retina from solar radiation.
  • Don’t forget the kids: Everyone is at risk, including children.
  • Protect their eyes with hats and sunglasses. In addition, try to keep children out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun’s UV rays are the strongest.

4. FMCSA Publishes revisions to Driver Hours of Service (HOS) Rule which will go into effect 9/29/2020.

Changes are seen in four areas:

  1. It revises the 30-minute break rule by requiring a break after 8 hours of driving rather than 8 hours on duty and allowing the break to be satisfied by a driver using on-duty, not driving or sleeper berth status, rather than off-duty status.
  2. The rule modifies the sleeper-berth exception to allow drivers to split their required 10 hours off duty into two periods: an 8/2 split and a 7/3 split—with neither period counting against the driver’s 14-hour driving window.
  3. The rule modifies the adverse driving conditions exception by extending by 2 hours the maximum window during which driving is permitted.
  4. It changes the short-haul exception available to certain commercial drivers by lengthening the drivers’ maximum on-duty period from 12 to 14 hours and extending the distance limit within which the driver may operate from 100 air miles to 150 air miles. These drivers will be exempt from the requirements for driver logs and Electronic Logging Devices and the 30-minute break requirement.

Visit https://www.idealease.com/safety-bulletins for a collection of all past bulletins and more!




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