Event Safety Insights Issue One | Fall 2016 | Page 20

The Silent Killer
Your Body , What We DO Know !

It IS about the

HEAT

!

By

Dr . Kevin Kloesel

As our capability to detect deadly weather hazards such as lightning , hail , heavy rainfall , tornadoes and other windstorms continues to improve , weather plans with appropriate decision triggers to protect artists , staff , and patrons at outdoor venues will also improve . Unfortunately , a weather plan accounting for this list of deadly hazards is not only incomplete , it doesn ’ t account for the weather threat responsible for the most weather fatalities . Extreme heat is the number one weather killer in the U . S . with 180 fatalities on average annually ( source : CDC ). Extreme heat waves around the world have resulted in significant loss of life with an estimated 70,000 heat-related deaths across Europe during the summer of 2003 , 700 fatalities in Illinois in 1995 , and another 400 in California during the summer of 2006 .

The outdoor entertainment and venue industry is no stranger to casualties caused all or in part to extreme heat . Over 500 guests were treated for extreme heat at last year ’ s CMA Music Festival in Tennessee and dozens were hospitalized . Heat-related fatalities occurred at outdoor events in 5 different states in 2015 . Events in eleven more states had heat-related casualties that required hospitalization of fair or concertgoers .

The Silent Killer

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ), The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) and the U . S . Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) all refer to extreme heat as the “ silent killer .” This apt descriptor highlights
20 the inherent difficulty in being able to accurately define or predict how extreme temperatures and accompanying atmospheric humidity affect you ! Extreme heat affects the young and old differently . Your level of acclimation to the heat also determines your body ’ s ability to regulate its ’ internal temperature . Medications , alcohol use , drug use , water intake , all combine in unique and individual ways to make you susceptible in varying degrees to heat illness .
Extreme heat does not manifest itself as a looming dark cloud on the horizon , or a bolt of lightning and crack of thunder . Extreme heat kills as a result of the temperature and moisture content of the invisible air around you , combined with a healthy dose of sunshine , your ability or inability to find shade , a breeze , or cool down , as well as what you had to eat or drink that day . If you have ever uttered the words “ it ’ s complicated ” for a relationship ? Put “ COMPLICATED ” in all capital letters when trying to forecast how any one person will react to extreme heat .

Your Body , What We DO Know !

If you maintain a consistent internal body temperature of about 98.6F , your body tends to function well . Think of your body as a refreshing container of ice cream in your freezer . As long as you maintain a freezer temperature of between -5F and 0F , the ice cream maintains its molecular consistency ( a fancy term for ‘ ice crystal deliciousness ’). As soon as you expose the ice cream to warmer tem-