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Toolbox Talks
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Working in Heat Awareness

For workers outdoors or in hot indoor environments: how heat illness develops, the controls that prevent it, and how to recognise heat stroke.

  • SeriesToolbox Talks
  • AudienceAll workers
  • Duration20–30 minutes
  • CodeHAZ-HEA
  • Version1.0 · 885 KB ZIP

About this package

Working in heat can cause heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, which can be fatal. It also makes people tired, slows decisions and increases the chance of other incidents. The risk depends on more than the air temperature: humidity, radiant heat, air movement, how hard the work is, clothing and whether workers are used to the heat all matter.

This talk covers the factors that create heat stress, the controls the business uses such as scheduling, shade, water, rest and acclimatisation, the signs of heat illness, and what to do when someone shows them.

Learning outcomes

After the session, participants will be able to:

  • Explain the factors that create heat stress: temperature, humidity, radiant heat, air movement, workload, clothing and acclimatisation
  • Describe controls such as rescheduling work, shade, cooling, mechanical aids, rest breaks and water
  • Explain why new and returning workers need time to acclimatise
  • Recognise the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke
  • Respond to heat illness: move the person somewhere cool, cool them, give water if they are alert, and call triple zero (000) for heat stroke
  • Look out for each other, and stop work and report when controls are not enough

Training outline

MODULE 1

How heat harms

  • Heat stress and heat illness
  • The factors that matter
  • Who is at greater risk
MODULE 2

Controls

  • Scheduling and rotating work
  • Shade, cooling and ventilation
  • Water and rest breaks
  • Acclimatisation
MODULE 3

Recognise and respond

  • Heat cramps, exhaustion and stroke
  • First response
  • Buddy checks and reporting

What is in the package

Training

  • Editable PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes, plus PDF
  • Facilitator guide with a running sheet, discussion prompts and model answers
  • Participant handout with the key points to take away

Records and assessment

  • Attendance record form, to capture who attended, when, and who facilitated
  • Excel attendance register
  • Multiple-choice theory assessment, to record understanding if your business wants to
  • Answer key for the assessment
  • Certificate template

Start here

  • Read Me First guide
  • Product overview
  • Permitted use terms
  • Version information

Practical activities

  • What makes it hot: workers rate the heat risk of three jobs using the handout factor list
  • Heat stroke response: a short scenario worked through step by step

Delivery requirements

  • A facilitator such as a supervisor, leading hand or WHS adviser who has read the facilitator guide and knows your site's arrangements for the topic
  • A screen or projector, or printed slides or handouts: it works in a crib room, site office or on a video call
  • Your own site procedures for the topic, to point to during the session

File formats

  • PowerPoint (.pptx), editable, with speaker notes
  • Word (.docx), editable
  • Excel (.xlsx) attendance register
  • PDF copies of the slides, guide, handout and forms
  • Delivered as a single ZIP download

Questions about this package

Can we add our own site procedures and photos?

Yes. The slides, handout and guide are editable, and the facilitator guide marks the places to add your own procedures, contacts and photos of your workplace.

Do we have to use the assessment?

No. It is there if your business wants a record that each worker understood the key points. The attendance record on its own shows who attended and when.

Can we edit the documents?

Yes. Presentations, guides, workbooks and templates are supplied in editable formats so you can adapt them to your workplace. The copyright notice must stay.

Can we use the packages outside Australia?

Yes. The hazards and the controls in each toolbox talk apply in any workplace. The duties slide and the facilitator guide's "check before you deliver" table refer to Australian WHS and OHS laws, licences and standards, so a business elsewhere should swap those for its own country's rules. Everything is editable.

Do participants get a certificate?

Yes. The package includes an editable certificate template, an attendance record (Word, plus an Excel register) and an optional 10-question multiple-choice assessment with an answer key, so you can record who attended and, if you choose, that each worker understood the key points. It is a certificate of completion issued by your business, not a nationally recognised qualification.

Can we deliver it face to face and online?

Yes. The packages are designed for face-to-face sessions and work over a video meeting platform. The facilitator guide notes where an activity needs adjusting for online delivery.

Can we run it more than once?

Yes, as many times as you like, for your own organisation's workers.

What is your refund policy?

Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law are not affected. See the Refund Policy for how we handle a package that is faulty, not as described, or not what you ordered.

Do we get future updates?

You keep the version you bought for as long as you use it, and corrections to that version are made available to you. A new edition, for example following a significant change in the law, may be sold separately.

More answers on the home page, or contact us.

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