Hot-weather work

[Manco]

What are some of the things you do to lessen the beating we take from working in the heat? High heat and humidity are a deadly combo, add in 281 or a 338 and a pair of spikes and your in for some extreme athletics.
Clothing changes and a Camelbak make a big difference. Shirt is a Dri-star with full dri-weave material, pants are khaki Dickies.
The weather we have, you will be soaked in sweat just fueling and cranking a saw.

 

[fwf]

All I know is summer sucks! It is not even Jun 15 and I am already daydreaming about October. Hydration, a sweat wicking shirt, and short breaks to cool down is only relief I have found. Oh, and when in doubt, work in the shade.

This summer, at least so far, permethrin clothing treatment for insect control seems to be working pretty well.

Did I mention that summer really really sucks!

 

[tophopper]

Workin at -10 below zero aint any better.

 

[Koa Man]

I drink lots of Gatorade. On most residential accounts we can work without shirts because the homeowner doesn't care and is often undressed the same way. Some of the ground crew wear shorts (knee length, like the postman). One benefit of a laid back tropical lifestyle.

 

[Ekka]

I gotta admit I'm a rip your shirt off type guy too.

I take 2 shirts to work in winter and 3 in summer, a towel, 5 litres of frozen boiled water, anti-cramp tablets, 3 addidas sweat bands for head, absorbent gloves if stump grinding and always wear boxers to ...

A/ stop chafing and rash

B/ go for a hose down or swim in customers pool.

Becomes a way of life.

 

[Jumper]

Move north to Canada We actually are having an early heatwave up here with the humidex at about 100F over the past few days, plus poor air quality. Three t shirts, lots of water, a bit of Gatorade to keep the electrolytes even. I usually carry a container of medicated powder to keep heat rash at bay due to chafing.

One of the most important things is to look out after each other ie recognize the symptoms of heat related stresses on the body. A few years ago in St Jean, QC, the Army ran a group of officer candidates in mid 90 temps, and killed one of them because no one recognized the guy was being damaged beyond recovery. He slipped into a coma and developed multiple organ failure before passing on...a totally preventable death.

Highly recommend a noon swim if possible.

 

[KentuckySawyer]

I've heard that drinking too much water can flush out your electrolytes. No more than about 8oz every 15-20 minutes. Obviously that isn't possible all the time, but food for thought anyways.

 

[vharrison2]

Every truck has a bottle of Thermotabs. It is a buffered salt supplement with pottassium.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I've heard that drinking too much water can flush out your electrolytes.

You are correct, sir. When I'm sweating buckets I never drink water, it's Gatorade all the way, b a b y!!!

 

[Dadatwins]

Avoid caffeine, stay away from soft drinks, drink plenty of gatorade, I mix bottled gatorade 1/2 with water to cut some of the sugar. Personally I prefer working in the cold weather, my opinion is I can always get warm by adding some layers or increasing activity. I am fine in the cold as long as my feet stay warm, once they get cold/wet I am finished. Summer heat is very difficult to deal with especially when the humidity gets so high that it feels like there is no air. I would rather deal with the cold.

 

[Bermie]

That's the nice thing about being a 120lb female tree sugeon, we don't sweat as much HA HA!
I go the gatorade route, and short breaks. I avoid scheduling work in the mid day hours, start early, finish early - go to the beach.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Welcome to AS, Bermie.

 

[mikecross23]

I had a customer a few weeks ago bring out a cooler with a little ice and water in the bottom of it and fresh hand towls. She practically forced us to dip the towels and wrap them around our necks. Unwilling I did it and man it felt good. Left that cool towl wrapped for the rest of the day. The guys too. Too much of a pain to do on a regular basis though.

 

[Bermie]

Thanks, Just came across the site yesterday

 

[Dadatwins]

Thanks, Just came across the site yesterday

Another welcome to the site, absolutely beautiful place Bermuda, glad to have you here.

 

[Wales]

I took a lesson from my foreman's brother who works as a lineman for the local electric company. He gave me a piece of fabric / cloth to hang from the back of my helmet and a tinted visor for the peak.It reduced the heat on my head and shoulders and made the Florida heat manageable. The tinted visor not only made looking up into the trees much easier it also provided a little extra shade. Powerade or Gatorate is also the way to go.

 

[Ekka]

Well, hasn't the good old snake oil marketing machine of Gatorade sucked you all in!

Tch Tch Tch, seldom believe what a company selling a product says, and of course they don't want you drinking water ... that's free. Aren't they owned by Pepsi.

Oh yeah, it's got all those "good things" in it unlike water ... take a closer look. Do some research on what the body really needs.

Master Blaster and Kentucky Sawyer you are both wrong, not your fault, just conned by the marketing machine ... here's the facts ..

Salt is needed by the human body in order to help muscles and nerves to work and to regulate blood pressure. Hormones help the body regulate how much salt and water is needed. If the body has too much salt the excess sodium chloride is excreted. If the body has too little salt more water is excreted from the body in order to preserve the BrCl/H2O balance in the body. (source http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/trade/salt.htm) So drinking plenty of water cannot flush out the electrolytes.

On a hot day you would have to drink around 5L of water a day, if you drank that as Gatorade you would have also consumed 1100 empty calories of sugar and got 2.2 grams of sodium, 0.6 grams of potassium in salts. Not to mention that you would have spend $20 on the crap. And that amount of "electrolyte mineral support" from that volume of product is a joke. They're selling you a dimes worth of minerals with coloured water and sugar! SUCKED IN!!!!

Yes, Gatorade is a better alternative than soft drink etc but it is not the panacea for your summer sweating woes. It is the way to your wallet and ill health in the long term.

So, you now know how little is in it, and you now know what it is that you need so you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure the rest out.

Also, don't forget there are other salts like magnesium that will benefit your body too, so go to your local health shop, forget the mix with water rip off type of rubbish, buy some tablets that have potassium, sodium, magnesium etc and away you go. Electrolyte re-hydration for a dime a day that wont give you type 2 diabetes.

 

[Koa Man]

Ekka,
I also like to drink Gatorade instead of water when working. I like the taste and buying the powder mix from Costco at $8.89 a can for a 9 gal. mix comes out to only 25 cents a quart. I drink less than a gallon so it may cost me 50 cents to a dollar a day. I make enough to afford that. Each person have their own personal choice of drinks. I know some tree workers who bing lemonade or iced tea mix to drink. One of my former ground guys would bring a half gal. of orange juice. Now that is getting pricey.

 

[Ekka]

Half a gallon of orange juice would have to give you the runs. I wouldn't be under him working the ropes when he's going out for a limb walk!

Hey Koa, gatorade here costs $2.80 a bottle from the shop and a 1 gallon powder to mix with water cost $10.00 which is what you'd have to take a day. It's expensive and taste is something that cigarette companies have been conning consumers with for years ... it does nothing for me. Also is it's full of sugar and misses out other minerals.

Like I said, it's the best of the bunch. But you can do better for your body.

 

[CODIT]

Every one is making good points here as far as the Gatorade vs. H2O question. The fact is that you need much more water than minerals / electrolytes. But a compromise between the two would probably fix the whole problem. A touch of the Gator for the taste, with much more H2O, and the rehydration minerals would be a much better answer. Lots of water is really the important factor. The Camelback is what I use up in the tree sipping H2O every little bit.The towel on the neck is a great idea in fact a dowsed wet bandana works wonders when it's really hot There is a product on the market that you could probably find at the local Rosemart marketed under the brand Miracool that is a bandana containing a polymer that soaks up and retains water for several days. You can turn the bandana over on the back of your neck every so often and it's great on the hot days. Stay cool it can be dangerous to the treeman