Protecting workers from heat while pursuing positive returns
Photo credit: Joe Woodruff
We mitigate risk while pursuing increased productivity and a return on investment
We provide evidence-driven technical support to companies seeking to address heat stress and other occupational illnesses and injuries. Businesses have trusted us to ensure a healthy and productive working environment by tailoring support specific to their organizations. We will work with you to mitigate risk and reduce harm while pursuing an increase in productivity and a return on investment.
Assess, Address, Assist
We advise companies through our Triple-A Model of Assess, Address, Assist
ASSESS
Assess health and safety policies, procedures, and protocols, as well as the organizational management framework to determine successes and opportunities for improvement
ADDRESS
Address areas of improvement and provide tools to close the gaps in organization-wide operations, from frontline workers to upper management
ASSIST
Assist in the implementation of our evidence-based recommendations to ensure long-lasting change
Engaging with management to ensure effective implementation
When it comes to the health of your business, we understand that the way your management team perceives the relationship between worker health and productivity matters too. We include organizational management assessments as part of our transdisciplinary approach. We conduct all parts of the research and build evidence on-site, which is translated into policy and practice. Following this model framework we are able to create a Center of Excellence, translating evidence collected on-site into policy and practice that best addresses the OSH risks found at the worksite and following through on effective implementation to ensure long-lasting change.
Engaging with organizational management
Engage positively with workplace culture to identify barriers, opportunities, and messaging/operational gaps around implementation and enforcement of OSH intervention.
Managing on exposures and health outcomes
Nurture a culture of safety and health, and target exposures that can be managed in the work.
Communicating throughout the organization
Communicate smoothly between the advisory team and all levels of organization.
Positive ROI in ISA by PREP and Adelante
Site 1, No workplace Improvements
Incident kidney injury
Site 2, PREP workplace Program
Incident kidney injury
Results
Companies who have worked with us to implement our data-driven protocols have:
- Reduced harm and protected worker health
- Increased productivity
- Generated a return on investment
- Mitigated risks and liabilities
- Achieved sustainability goals and strengthened brand position
- Complied with certifications
Existing Business
Case Studies
Key Highlights
- Our aim is to close gaps that might be found in Ingenio San Antonio’s supply chain.
- The incidence of kidney injury has gone from 21% to 1%, post-intervention.
- We have provided Ingenio San Antonio with a 22% return on investment.
- Through the Center of Excellence, ISA is ready to respond to all OSH risks, ensuring it is safeguarded from the worst effects of climate change.
- Our protocols have improved ISA’s brand positioning and prevented unnecessary liabilities.
Recognition in Excellence
In 2019, Ingenio San Antonio, the National Committee of Nicaraguan Sugar Producers (CNPA), and La Isla Network won the Bonsucro Positive Social Impact Award.
In 2024 Ingenio San Antonio won two award categories in the Just Drinks Excellence Awards, for Social and Environmental Sustainability.
Safeguarding worker health and providing a return on investment
When we started working with Ingenio San Antonio (ISA) we faced an epidemic of chronic kidney disease that had already taken the lives of approximately 20,000 people in Central America. Sugarcane cutters at ISA were especially impacted. This form of chronic kidney disease was found among young, otherwise healthy working age men. So, when we started working with ISA to reverse the course of this epidemic, our goal was to close any and all occupational safety and health gaps that might be found within ISA’s supply chain. Research led to the development of an OSH intervention focused on rest, shade, hydration, and sanitation that is specific to the nature of work at ISA.
Data collected on-site shows the intervention’s impact. Before, ISA’s workforce who had the heaviest workload experienced a 21% incidence rate of kidney injury. That has dropped to 1%. We also found that workers’ productivity went up.
That’s one-half of the story. The program has been fine-tuned through data collected on-site to ensure it is as effective as possible given the specifics at the work site. As a result we have been able to provide ISA with a 22% return on their investment.
The work at ISA continues, through the Adelante Center of Excellence. We aim to make ISA one of the first companies with a fully protected supply chain. Through the Center of Excellence, ISA is ready to respond to all OSH risks, ensuring it is safeguarded from the worst effects of climate change.
Our protocols are compliant with certifications, standards, and laws on ethical and sustainable production. ISA’s commitment to protecting their workforce is validated by its certifications from Bonsucro, Fair Trade USA, and ISCC EU. By meeting over 300 rigorous labor, social, and environmental criteria set by Fair Trade USA, ISA has demonstrated its dedication to responsible business practices.
Key Highlights
- Workers in the construction industry are disproportionately at risk of heat-related illness, injury, and death.
- A pilot study in Kansas City found that 43% of workers experienced an internal body temperature exceeding 100.4°F/38°C.
- The work continues with a scaled-up program starting in 2024. The program will assess current occupational health and organizational management practices, to develop effective interventions. Partners include the Chubb Corporation, Zurich Insurance Company, and Liberty Mutual Insurance.
Data for Change
Read the full story behind the pilot project in Kansas City.
Addressing Heat Stress and Occupational Safety in the U.S. with Turner Construction
In the United States, workers in the construction industry are at heightened risk for heat stress, leaving them vulnerable to illness, injury, and death. Workers’ compensation data show that construction workers make up the bulk of those who succumb to heat-related illness. Compared to workers in all other industries, construction workers experience 13 times the risk of heat-related death. Between 2000 and 2010, the bulk of heat-related deaths occurred in construction, at 36.8%.
That’s why we are proud to partner with Turner Construction to collect data at multiple worksites in the U.S., to protect workers’ health in a changing climate. With data in hand we will assist Turner Construction in identifying and intervening on one of their biggest risks at work.
The results of a pilot study in Kansas City with Turner have confirmed workers’ risk of heat-related illness, injury and death. They showed that 43% of workers experienced an internal body temperature exceeding 100.4°F/38°C, with 4% exceeding 101.3°F/38.5°C, even in conditions that were cooler than typical summer conditions. In order to keep workers healthy, their temperature must remain below 100.4°F/38°C. Our advisory team for this project is led by Dr. Fabiano Amorim and Dr. Zachary Schlader from the University of New Mexico and Indiana University Bloomington, respectively.
The work continues with a scaled-up program starting in 2024. The program will assess current occupational health and organizational management practices, to develop effective interventions to protect workers from heat stress and other climate risks. The project is being done with the Chubb Corporation, Zurich Insurance Company, and Liberty Mutual Insurance. Because of Turner’s global reach, the results of this study and continuing projects in the near future will have an impact in protecting construction workers worldwide.
