Heat stress precautions critical for flightline Airmen

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jasmine Reif
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  When it's 110 degrees outside you can bet it's 15 to 20 degrees hotter on the flightline at Luke Air Force Base.

To get the jets in the air, hundreds of Airmen brave the heat every day. They take precautions to ensure they stay hydrated and don't succumb to heat related injuries.

"The Airmen are definitely affected by the heat," said Master Sgt. Mark Folsom, 56th Maintenance Operations Squadron end-of-runway flight chief. "They have to take more breaks during the summer months and drink a lot more water and sports drinks to help combat the heat stress."

Supervisors are responsible for ensuring Airmen take breaks on regular intervals. The 56th Medical Group Bioenvironmental Engineering office performs heat stress measurements during the summer to determine work/rest cycles. They use specialized equipment to measure the Wet Bulb, Globe Temperature, which estimates how the environmental factors, such as humidity, radiant heat and wind, affect the core temperature of the human body.

"The human body responds to environmental factors by either heating it up or cooling it off," said Timothy Stanek, 56th MDG BEE industrial hygienist. "The body is more efficient cooling itself in drier climates due to the rate of evaporation. Air movement also increases the evaporation rate. Controls to prevent overheating of the human body are implemented based on the WBGT and the type of work being performed, such as heavy, medium or light work."

There are five heat categories, or flag colors, used based on the WBGT and work load to determine the appropriate work/rest cycle. White flag (78 to 81.9 degrees) is the lowest with no work/rest for easy to moderate work and 40/20 min work/rest cycle for hard work. The other flags in order are green, yellow, red and black.

"Black flag, which is most common during the summer months, is for temperatures greater than 90 degrees, with work/rest cycles ranging from 50/10 min for easy work, 20/40minutes for moderate work and 10/50 minutes for hard work," said Staff Sgt. Michael Mavrakis II, 56th Fighter Wing Safety. "These cycles are very important so that Airmen can rehydrate and re-energize their bodies. There are also water intake guidelines in AETCI48-101 that people should follow."

In addition to resting, maintenance units also offer uniform alternatives.

"The crews wear coveralls, half-style and full, to combat the heat," Folsom said. "A lot of the crews change into shorts and T-shirts under their coveralls. We use the port-o-coolers on the end-of-runway pad to cool the crews off between jet launches. They also use five-gallon jugs of water and usually go through three of those per eight-to-10 hour shift."

From the flightline to the hospital, units across the base are working together to help Airmen avoid heat stroke during the summer months.

"Work/rest cycles are for everyone's benefit. You can tell who is and isn't drinking enough water and taking breaks during the day," Folsom said. "By 4 p.m. we've reached the hottest part of the day and if the guidelines haven't been followed, we could lose crew members for the day, because they have to recover from heat stress. That negatively affects the other crews and the mission."