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HEATCHECK CAWorker Heat Assessment
INFORMATIONAL SCREENING TOOL
CALIFORNIA + NIOSH · PUBLIC DEMO

Tap, assess, and cool.

Check outdoor conditions before work. After work, review heat exposure, rest planning, and safety alerts. No employer affiliation or login required.

BEFORE HEAT-EXPOSED WORK

Before-work assessment

+

Relative humidity

Select the closest range.

AFTER HEAT-EXPOSED WORK

After-work assessment

BEFORE-WORK RECOMMENDATION—
— / —minutes work / rest per hour (outdoors)

Complete the before-work inputs to populate this comparison.

2

Actual time by location

Choose approximate durations for each location. An indoor location counts as cooler only if it was below 80°F.

Outdoors
Vehicle / enclosed work area
Cool indoor area (<80°F)
3

Outdoor conditions after work

Auto-populates from before-work selections. Tap to change.

Actual outdoor temperature
Actual sunlight
Actual humidity
EXPOSURE REVIEW
+

Completed duty-free cooled recovery

Choose the time range only if an actual uninterrupted, duty-free cooled break occurred after heat exposure.

Duty-free cooled recovery
+

WBGT measurement or estimate

A measured WBGT is preferred for a heat-exposure screen.

Use a properly measured workplace WBGT, not a weather app's heat index or a regular thermometer reading.

Estimated WBGT is for information only. See How it works for limitations.

METHODS AND LIMITATIONS

How it works

1. Before work: NIOSH sample outdoor schedule

Choose a range for outdoor air temperature, sunlight, humidity and workload. The app selects the more protective work/rest entry from the chosen temperature band. Adjusted temperature = measured outdoor °F + sunlight (+13 full, +7 partial, +0 shade) + humidity (+0 below 40%, +3 at 40–49%, +6 at 50–59%, +9 at 60% or more). If humidity is unknown the app uses +9°F for screening. This is a NIOSH sample schedule per hour for its stated assumptions, not a universal safe threshold. “Normal” does not mean no heat hazard; “Caution” is not permission to continue work.

2. California rules are not the same as the sample schedule

When applicable, California outdoor standard 8 CCR §3395 requires water, access to shade (shade must be present above 80°F), preventive cool-down rest and other protections; high-heat procedures apply at 95°F or above. Indoor standard 8 CCR §3396 generally addresses work areas at 82°F or above, with further provisions at 87°F or in certain radiant-heat/clothing situations, plus exceptions. Determine applicability with the actual workplace and employer heat illness prevention plan. California does not require this app's example 60/90/120-minute recovery schedule.

3. WBGT: measurement and approximation

If a workplace WBGT meter reading is entered, the app screens it against simplified workload/acclimatization values; the difference is shown in °C WBGT, not minutes of rest owed. If humidity and enclosed-area temperature are given, the app may show an experimental shaded approximation using the Stull wet-bulb relationship and globe temperature assumed equal to air temperature. This is not a measured WBGT, does not reflect high radiant heating or PPE, and is never used for exceedance or recovery-time decisions. A measured WBGT cannot be directly substituted into the NIOSH adjusted-air-temperature schedule.

4. After work: exposure and optional cooling example

Outdoors, a vehicle/enclosed work area, and an indoor area confirmed below 80°F are logged separately. Time in a cooler environment may reduce heat exposure but is not automatically a duty-free break. The approximate time buttons are 0–19, 20–39, 40–60, and 60+ minutes; hot time uses the low end, cooler time uses the high end when one exists. The 60+ range has no known upper bound. If the outdoor or hot enclosed-area selection exceeds the sample outdoor work interval, the app displays a warning. This is a screening prompt: location totals do not establish the chronology of work and actual rest. The outdoor NIOSH table is not a validated cabin or indoor work/rest limit.

Illustrative nonregulatory recovery example: A user-reported cooling delay of 1–29 minutes maps to 60 minutes cooling, 30–59 minutes maps to 90 minutes, and 60+ maps to 120 minutes. If a duty-free cooled break is reported, the app subtracts only the lower end of the selected rest band. These example values are not NIOSH or California requirements, are not validated as individualized recovery times, and must not determine fitness to resume work. Symptoms or concern for heat illness always supersede a timer and trigger STAND DOWN guidance.

Official sources and methods

NIOSH: sample work/rest schedules · OSHA: heat hazard and WBGT · California outdoor heat standard §3395 · California indoor heat standard §3396 · Stull wet-bulb approximation

Transparency: This is a generic educational prototype with no employer-specific policy, endorsement or affiliation. It cannot replace your workplace heat illness prevention plan, professional assessment or emergency procedures. Answers stay on your device until you export them.