Heat Stroke and Outdoor Labor: Are You Covered Under Workers’ Comp?
The temperature climbs to 95 degrees, but the construction deadline won’t wait. You’re laying asphalt or installing roofing while your body temperature rises dangerously high. Then, suddenly, you’re dizzy, fatigued, and confused. It’s heat stroke—and it could be deadly.
When heat stroke strikes on the job, workers’ compensation should cover your medical bills and lost wages. But employers and insurance companies often fight these claims, arguing that heat-related illnesses aren’t really work injuries.
The Reality of Heat Stroke Claims
Ohio workers’ compensation law clearly covers heat-related injuries that occur due to work conditions. However, insurance companies use every tactic possible to deny these expensive claims. They’ll argue your age, weight, or medications caused the heat stroke. They’ll claim you didn’t drink enough water or should have taken more breaks. They might even suggest the injury happened during a lunch break, making it non-work-related.
These denial tactics ignore a fundamental truth: Employers have a legal duty to protect workers from extreme heat through adequate water, mandatory rest breaks, shade, and modified schedules during dangerous conditions. When they fail to provide these basic protections, they’re responsible for the consequences.
Understanding Your Workers’ Comp Rights
Heat stroke often requires emergency treatment and can cause permanent organ damage affecting your kidneys, liver, heart, and brain. Workers’ compensation should cover your emergency room visits, hospitalization, ongoing medical treatment, and lost wages while you recover.
If the heat stroke causes lasting disabilities that affect your ability to work, you may qualify for permanent disability benefits. The key is proving your heat stroke resulted from dangerous work conditions, not personal factors. This requires medical documentation linking your injury to workplace heat exposure, weather condition records, and evidence of inadequate safety measures at your job site.
Why Quick Action Matters
Heat stroke cases have unique challenges because symptoms can appear suddenly and evidence of workplace conditions disappears quickly. Weather reports get archived, witnesses forget details, and employers may implement safety measures after an incident to cover their tracks.
Document everything immediately: Photograph work site conditions, save weather reports showing dangerous temperatures, get witness statements about missing safety protocols, and report heat stroke to your employer right away. Ohio requires timely injury reporting, and delays can jeopardize your entire claim.
Don’t Take the Heat for Employer Negligence!
Never accept blame for your heat-related injury. Employers who ignore heat safety regulations put profits over worker lives, and they should face the full consequences when their negligence causes preventable injuries.
The Law Offices of Tim Misny can help you with your heat stroke workers’ compensation claim. When you’re the victim of employer negligence, I’ll Make Them Pay!® Call my office at (877) 944-4373 so that I can evaluate your case right away.
