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Managing Heat Risk in Emergency Response: A Guide for Safety Professionals

July 2, 2025

This week, the Midwest and Eastern United States will be affected by a phenomenon known as a heat dome which will create a heat wave that will impact the region for the rest of the week, and potentially beyond. Heat waves can lead to dangerous working conditions, especially for disaster response teams deployed to locations experiencing extreme heat and can lead to heat-related illnesses (HRI). 

HRIs include several illnesses that range in severity. Common illnesses include heat rash, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Heat strokes, the most severe on this list, can result in death and has a noted mortality rate as high as 80%. 

A combination of environmental and individual risk factors can lead to HRIs. See the table below for a list of environmental and individual risk factors.

Table 1: Heat-related Illness - Risk Factors

Environment Risk Factors Individual Risk Factors
High Temperature and Humidity Dehydration
Direct Sun Exposure Physical Exertion
Radiant Heat Sources (equipment and work area) Clothing and PPE
Limited air movement (little to minimal breeze) Physical conditions and Health Problems
  Medications and Alcohol
  Pregnancy
  Lack Acclimation
  Fatigue

Data Source: IS0039: Disaster Responder Heat Safety Training

These risk factors can be compounded by situations unique to the field of disaster response. For example, differences in a responder’s home environment and the environment which they are deployed to (acclimation). Also, situations like being deployed to remote or austere locations with limited communication. Moreover, direct supervisors may be remote from the responder’s deployed location. Finally, based on the disaster that a responder is deployed to, equipment worn to reduce exposure to harmful elements may increase body temperature. This factor may be exacerbated by the physical labor needed at the job site that could increase a responder’s metabolic heat (heat created naturally inside the body).

One important way responders can reduce HRIs while working in extreme heat is developing and implementing a site-specific plan. FEMA recommends the following items be addressed in the site-specific plan:

  • How workplace heat is measured
  • Heat triggers
  • Applicable engineering controls
  • Acclimatization plan
  • Day-to-day supervision
  • Work/rest ratio
  • Water supply
  • Heat stress mitigation strategies
  • Heat stress mitigation supplies and equipment
  • Buddy system
  • Communication plan
  • Heat-related illness (HRI) emergency response procedures
  • Heat safety training 
A few important factors from the list above include measuring workplace heat, acclimation plans, work/rest ratios, and the buddy system. All of which are measures to help prevent triggering the most severe HRI. Acclimation is a way to gradually expose an individual to hot working conditions to prevent HRIs and heat stress. A work/rest schedule implements regular breaks and should be based on predetermined heat triggers.1  Finally, the buddy system is a way for the deployed staff to communicate with each other to ensure proper accommodation and communication is established to reduce HRIs. Examples include watching your team members for signs of heat stress, both individual and environmental. Share information that outlines your enhanced chances of heat stress, like certain medications. Make sure everyone is following the work, rest, and hydration schedules. 

Ambipar | Witt O'Brien's field teams encounter these same heat-stress challenges on hurricane, wildfire, and industrial-incident deployments across the country. Drawing on that experience, our planners routinely translate the FEMA checklist into practical job-site tools—work/rest matrices sized for vehicle dashboards, hydration-tracking cards, and buddy-check prompts—all of which have proven effective at reducing heat-related callouts during real operations.

Ambipar | Witt O'Brien's, as a global company, responds to a variety of emergencies and disasters which all come with unique challenges. Extreme heat is one of the many factors that can affect the work of responders and should be addressed in the planning process when developing local disaster management protocols. Please reach out to learn about developing disaster response mitigation strategies for your region. 

 1 FEMA defines a heat trigger as thresholds at which heat mitigation measures change. Mitigation includes breaks, water provisions, engineering controls (AC, cooling fans, misting fans, etc.), and other administrative solutions. To date, there is no Federal regulatory standard with identified heat triggers, but several states, institutions, as well as the U.S. Army have adopted their own policies. 

Authored by: 

Dan Petrelli

Dan Petrelli
Senior Consultant, Community Services

 

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