NU-SAF-112 — HEAT ILLNESS PREVENTION

Tier 2/3 — Procedure + Field Card · Rev 1.0 · Issued August 1, 2026 · Owner: Field Supervisor Parent: NU-SAF-100 (Safety & Health Program), §5 element 13. Supersedes: NU-SAF-100 §8 interim heat rule — that section retires on issue of this document. Companion cards: Card 05-A (lunch strip) · NU-SAF-112-C field card in §9 of this document.

THE GATE

Heat index 90°F or above = the Crew Lead calls the water/rest/shade schedule out loud at the morning huddle and posts it to the crew WhatsApp thread before ground break. No schedule posted, no work in the heat. And a brand-new hire never works a full unmodified day in his first week of a Georgia summer — no exceptions, no matter how short the crew is.

The record for this gate is the WhatsApp schedule post plus a heat line on the JSA (§8). A gate that produces no record is a suggestion.

1. WHY THIS PAGE EXISTS

Heat is the one hazard on a Nova site that gets worse the harder a man works, hides behind "I'm fine," and can kill in under an hour once it tips over. Georgia hands us four months of it a year, and the men most likely to go down are exactly the men Nova is hiring right now — new guys, first week, July.

The compliance picture, stated accurately:

• There is no single federal OSHA heat standard in force today. OSHA enforces heat hazards through the General Duty Clause (OSH Act Section 5(a)(1)) — the employer must keep the workplace free of recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm. Heat is a recognized hazard. This document is Nova's answer.
• OSHA's Heat National Emphasis Program (CPL 03-00-024) is actively inspecting construction. It treats heat index 80°F as the trigger — on 80°F+ days, an inspector on site for anything else can open a heat inquiry, and the first things asked for are the written program, the water, the shade, and the records.
• 29 CFR 1926.51(a) requires potable drinking water on the job site. That one is a standard, it is specific, and §3 is how Nova meets it.

One more why: a man down with heat exhaustion is a crew down for the day. The schedule in §4 costs about 40 minutes of a 90°F day. The ER visit costs the day, the man, and the footage.

2. THE TRIGGER — CHECK THE HEAT INDEX EVERY MORNING

The Crew Lead checks the forecast heat index (not the temperature — heat index, the "feels like" number that counts humidity) at the morning huddle, every day, May through September — and any other day the forecast heat index reaches 80°F. It takes ten seconds on any weather app. It goes in the same breath as the Daily Loop morning post (NU-GOV-004).

The sun adjustment — memorize this one: the heat index is measured in the shade. Full sun adds up to 15°F. A 90°F forecast on open asphalt with no tree line works like triple digits. When the crew is on blacktop in a work zone — which is most days — read the table one row worse.

Who calls it: the Crew Lead. Not a vote, not "we'll see how it feels." He checks the number, he calls the schedule, he posts it. The Supervisor spot-checks it on the midday Daily Loop touch. If the Crew Lead is unsure which row the day lands in, he rounds up. Nobody has ever been written up for too much water.

3. WATER

• Every man starts the day with his own gallon jug. That is already the standard — item 5 of the GL personal kit in the Field Recipe Book (NU-FLD-200, Chapter 1: "a gallon minimum, more in summer"). This document just makes it a safety rule instead of a packing list.
• Cool water, not hot truck water. Water nobody wants to drink is water nobody drinks. Ice it in the morning. Truck water at 1 quart per man per hour, cool, is already required by NU-SAF-100 §8 (carried forward here). [Adam: decide the container — 5-gallon crew cooler per truck yes/no — and who ices it each morning. See §11.]
• The quantity rule: about one quart per man per hour of hot work — one cup every 15–20 minutes. Small amounts, often. Chugging a quart at lunch after four dry hours does not undo the morning.
• Water stays at the work, not a walk away. If the crew is 300 ft down the bore path from the truck, a jug goes down the bore path with them.
• On 90°F+ days, drinking is called, not assumed. The Crew Lead (or the buddy, §6) calls it out on the schedule. Men working hard forget to drink — that is not a character flaw, it is how heat illness starts.
• Electrolytes for all-day sweat. A man who sweats for eight hours and drinks only plain water is diluting himself. Sports drink or electrolyte packets in the afternoon on high-hazard days. [Adam: decide supply — packets in the GL kit is the cheap answer.]
• Energy drinks are not water. Caffeine and sugar on a 95°F afternoon push the wrong direction. They don't count toward the quart.

Card 05-A already says it in one line on the lunch strip: "Eat. Drink water. Georgia summer is not optional." That card is the field layer of this section. This page is why the card exists.

4. SHADE & REST — THE SCHEDULE THE CREW LEAD CALLS

Shade means shade: canopy, tree line, or the shaded side of the truck with air moving. The cab with the AC running counts and is the best option we carry. Sitting in full sun with your hard hat off is not a break.

Why the break beats the excuse: a 10-minute rotation costs about 40 minutes of production on a 90°F day. One man with heat exhaustion costs the whole crew the afternoon, plus the incident record, plus a man who may be gone tomorrow too. The schedule is the cheap option. This is the same math as the buffer space in NU-SAF-105 — the part that looks like waste is the part doing the protecting.

The hottest jobs on a Nova site, so the rotation is aimed right: hand-digging and potholing, mixing drilling fluid, rod handling at the rig, and flagging — a flagger stands on asphalt in Class 3 apparel (NU-SAF-105 §4.3) with no shade and no task to distract anyone into checking on him. On 90°F+ days the flagger rotates like everyone else and has a named buddy watching him.

5. ACCLIMATIZATION — THE NEW GUY RULE

The body adapts to working in heat, but it takes one to two weeks — and until it has, the same work at the same temperature is far more dangerous. Most construction heat deaths happen in the worker's first week on the job, many on day one. A brand-new hire in July is the highest-risk man on the crew, full stop.

New hires (and this ties directly to the Day 1–2 window, NU-PPL-405):

• The 20% rule: on day one, a new hire does no more than 20% of a normal day's heavy work in the heat. Add roughly 20% more each day after. Full load no sooner than the end of week one — and for a July or August start, plan on two weeks.
• Days 1–2 are already built as training, shadowing, and watching (NU-PPL-405). In summer, that design is also the heat ramp — protect it. The pressure to break it is real: crew's short, the new guy looks strong, hand him a shovel. That is exactly the man who goes down at 2 PM on day two. Don't.
• The Crew Lead flags the ramp man by name on the schedule post: "Daniel is week-1, light rotation." [Adam: decide how a first-two-weeks man is marked on the nightly WhatsApp post so every Crew Lead sees it — see §11.]
• The new hire's buddy (§6) is the Crew Lead or the most experienced man on site — never another new hire.

Returning workers (out a week or more — vacation, injury, layoff, suspension): re-ramp over four days — 50% / 60% / 80% / 100%. The adaptation fades in about a week off.

Everybody, first heat wave of the season: the first 90°F week in May hits a crew that spent the winter acclimatized to nothing. Run that week one row worse on the §2 table.

Training hook: the §6 signs and responses are taught out loud during the Day 1–2 window (NU-PPL-405) for every summer hire — the trainer reads the NU-SAF-112-C card with him, and the sign-off lands on the NU-PPL-405 tracker. [Adam: confirm adding a heat line to the Day 1–2 book checklist.] Refreshed as a toolbox talk when NU-SAF-104 exists.

6. BUDDY WATCH — BECAUSE THE VICTIM IS THE LAST TO KNOW

Heat illness takes out judgment first. A man tipping into heat stroke does not know it — he thinks he's fine, he gets irritable when asked, and then he's on the ground. The system cannot rely on self-reporting. It relies on the man next to him.

• On every 90°F+ day, the Crew Lead names buddy pairs at the huddle. Two seconds: "Austin watches Jay, Jay watches Austin." Watching a man is already a skill Nova certifies — same discipline as the B-SPOTTER badge, aimed at a body instead of a machine.
• A buddy's job: notice the signs below, and call water on his man once an hour.

6.1 Heat exhaustion — the body is still fighting

Signs: heavy sweating · pale, gray, clammy skin · headache · dizzy or lightheaded · nauseous or vomiting · cramps · weak, wobbly, or suddenly irritable.

The response — every step, in order: 1. Stop him. Not "in a minute" — now. 2. Shade. Vest, hard hat, and shirt loose or off. 3. Cool water to sip. Wet his neck, head, and forearms. 4. Watch him for 15 minutes minimum. He is not left alone — not in the shade, not in the truck. 5. Improving → light duty in the shade only, for the REST OF THE SHIFT. He does not go back on heavy work today, no matter how he says he feels. His buddy keeps eyes on him until end of day. 6. Not improving in 15 minutes, or vomiting and can't keep water down → call 911. Heat exhaustion untreated is the on-ramp to heat stroke. 7. He does not "walk it off," he does not go back in the hole to prove a point, and he does not drive himself home mid-shift alone.

6.2 Heat stroke — the body has lost. This is a medical emergency.

Signs: confusion — slurred speech, stumbling, not making sense, doing something senseless, combative · skin that is red and hot — dry or still sweating (don't wait for dry skin, exertional heat stroke often sweats) · passing out · seizure.

Confusion is the line. A man who isn't making sense is a 911 call, not a water break.

The response — 911 first, cool NOW, in this order: 1. Call 911. Say "suspected heat stroke." One man calls — the caller named on the JSA (NU-SAF-100 §9) — and stays on the line. Then cool while they roll. 2. Shade. Strip vest, hard hat, shirt. 3. Douse him with water. Ice from the cooler to neck, armpits, groin. Fan him. Keep going until EMS takes over — every minute of cooling is organ function saved. 4. Unconscious → nothing by mouth, lay him on his side. 5. Do NOT put him in a truck and drive him to the ER yourself. You cannot cool a man in a moving truck seat; EMS cools him en route and radios the ER ahead; and if he seizes at 60 mph you have two emergencies. The only transport is an ambulance. 6. Call chain per NU-SAF-100 §9: 911 first, then Supervisor, then Adam — immediately, not end of hour. NU-SAF-121 takes it from there.

This is the same drill discipline as the strike sequence (HDD Operator book, Card 16): the response is decided here, on this page, in the air conditioning — not improvised over a man on the ground.

Nearest ER + 911-ready site address + one named caller are already required on the JSA before ground break per NU-SAF-100 §9 — the Crew Lead confirms them at the huddle on every 90°F+ day. NU-SAF-119 (not built) is the permanent home and adds the field to the work order. [Adam: confirm who on each crew is current on First Aid/CPR — this feeds the NU-SAF-124 training matrix. See §11.]

7. WHERE THIS TOUCHES THE REST OF THE LIBRARY

8. PROOF & RECORDS (what has to exist when this is done right)

An NEP inspector's first question after "where's the water" is "show me the records." Until Softr is live, the WhatsApp post is the record — it is time-stamped, named, and it exists. When the app lands, these become fields on the daily record.

A heat incident is an incident. The near-miss that got caught at the shade-and-water stage is the leading indicator that the schedule saved a man — logging it is how Nova proves the program works, to itself and to anyone who asks.

9. NU-SAF-112-C — THE HEAT CARD (print, laminate, truck visor)

EVERY MORNING MAY–SEPT, AND ANY DAY FORECAST 80°F+ (Crew Lead): 1. Check the heat index at the huddle. Full sun on asphalt = add 15°F. 2. Under 80 → jugs full, go to work. 3. 80–89 → call water hourly. Breaks in shade. Heat on the JSA. 4. 90+ → call the schedule OUT LOUD: 10 min shade per hour, quart per man per hour, buddy pairs named. POST IT TO WHATSAPP. No post, no work in the heat. 5. 100+ → shade break every 30 min of heavy work (15 min minimum each), heavy work before noon, Supervisor watches the crew — not the clock — and calls the afternoon. 6. New guy in his first 2 weeks → light rotation, named on the post, buddy = most experienced man.

EVERY MAN, EVERY HOT DAY: - Full gallon jug at start. Cup of water every 15–20 minutes. Not energy drinks. - Eat. Drink water. Georgia summer is not optional. (Card 05-A) - Watch your buddy. Call his water once an hour.

IF A MAN LOOKS WRONG: - Sweaty, pale, dizzy, cramping, sick → shade, water, gear off, watch him 15 min, never alone. Better in 15 → light duty rest of day, never back in the hole same shift. Not better in 15 → 911. - Confused, stumbling, not making sense, passed out → 911 NOW. Cool NOW — strip gear, douse him, ice to neck/armpits/groin, fan. - NEVER drive him to the ER yourself. Ambulance only.

10. DONE WHEN / NEVER

Done when: - The heat index is checked and called at every huddle, May–September. - Every 90°F+ day has a schedule post in WhatsApp time-stamped before ground break. - Every man starts with a full jug and there is cool water at the work all day. - Every new hire's first two summer weeks are visibly ramped, named on the post. - Every heat case — including the ones that ended fine in the shade — is on NU-SAF-121 the same day.

NEVER: - Never work a 90°F+ day without the schedule called and posted. - Never give a brand-new hire a full day of heavy work in his first summer week — no matter how short the crew is. - Never let "I'm fine" override the signs. Confusion is a 911 call. - Never drive a heat stroke victim to the ER yourself. Ambulance only. - Never leave a heat-sick man alone — not in the shade, not in the truck, not "resting." - Never count an energy drink as water. - Never skip the NU-SAF-121 record because "he was fine." A gate that produces no record is a suggestion.

11. WHAT THIS DOCUMENT NEEDS FROM ADAM

1. Assign the point classes in NU-PPL-403: (a) no schedule posted on a 90°F+ day, (b) unramped new hire on full heavy work in week one. (Recommendation: both Class C — same weight as working the road with no traffic control, because it is the same kind of gamble.)
2. Decide the truck water container — truck water at 1 quart per man per hour, cool, is already required by NU-SAF-100 §8; still open: 5-gallon crew cooler per truck yes/no, who ices it each morning, and whether electrolyte packets go in the GL kit. [Adam: fill]
3. Decide how a first-two-weeks man is marked on the nightly WhatsApp schedule post so every Crew Lead sees the ramp at a glance. [Adam: fill]
4. Name who is First Aid/CPR current on each crew — feeds the NU-SAF-124 matrix, which does not exist yet. [Adam: fill]
5. Prioritize NU-SAF-119 (Emergency Action Plan) as the permanent home for the nearest-ER / 911-ready-address / named-caller information. That information is already required on the JSA before ground break per NU-SAF-100 §9 — NU-SAF-119 makes it permanent and adds the field to the work order.
6. On approval, flip the NU-SAF-100 §5 element-13 row from "Interim rules in §8 below" to "NU-SAF-112 issued."

NU-SAF-112 · Rev 1.0 · Nova Underground · Parent: NU-SAF-100 · Companion: Card 05-A + NU-SAF-112-C · Uncontrolled when printed.