BAKERSFIELD/SAN FRANCISCO - In 2005, Cal-OSHA investigated 25 cases of heat-related illness in California, with more than half of those cases involving fatalities and nearly a third involving hospitalization.  To make employers fully aware of the dangers of heat illness, State Compensation Insurance Fund will offer a free seminar to policyholders on July 12 in Bakersfield.

Last August, the State Division of Occupational Safety and Health approved emergency Heat Illness Prevention Standard 3395 in response to heat-related deaths in the state.  The emergency regulation mandates training of supervisors and employees to prevent heat illness in workers who are likely to suffer heat exposure, even if they are working outdoors for only a short period of time. Cal-OSHA made the standard permanent in June of this year, becoming the first in the nation.

Featured speakers at the seminar include Dr. George Hightower, medical consultant with State Fund’s Bakersfield District Office, and Efren Gomez, senior loss control consultant with State Fund’s Bakersfield Office.

“In Kern County, the summer heat is potentially deadly,” said State Fund’s Bakersfield District Office Senior Loss Control Consultant Efren Gomez. “Even if employers already have an injury and illness prevention program in place, it’s essential that they also develop a heat-related illness training program that will give them the resources to comply with the state’s regulation and make their workplaces safer.”

Topics to be covered at the seminar include:

• Learning how to recognize the signs and symptoms of heat illness
• Understanding environmental and personal risk factors
• Review of current regulations pertaining to heat illness
• Determining how to respond to heat stress emergencies

The seminar is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Hodel’s Country Dining, 5917 Knudsen Drive in Bakersfield. To register, please email Fern J. Mesa at fjmesa@scif.com or fax her at (661) 664-4100.  A full complimentary breakfast is included.

The Bakersfield seminar is among the free State Fund seminars held throughout the year to educate employers, employees, brokers and other system stakeholders about various workers’ compensation issues including how to decrease workers’ compensation costs. State Fund has the largest safety and health services program among California workers’ compensation insurance carriers.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Established by the California Legislature in 1914, State Compensation Insurance Fund guarantees the availability of workers' compensation coverage at cost to all California employers and competes fairly with private carriers. State Fund is a wholly self-supporting non-profit enterprise that serves as a moderating and stabilizing influence on California's workers' compensation insurance system.