Playing It Safe While Working In The Heat

(Memphis) No cool summer breeze for road crews pulling up asphalt at Park and Airways.

The temperatures may be over 100, but their work never stops.

You can believe they feel every degree.

“You can feel it through your boots. It gets so hot,” says Rodney Duke who is a Broom Operator with the construction company.

“I’ve been doing it for a lot of years.  But I ain’t never fell out. I get hot, get warm. But it’s just a common sense job. Think on your own,” says Traffic Controller Sonny Johnson.

Their key to coolness is shade when you need it. They also drink  plenty of water.

“If you don’t drink the right fluid, water and Gatorade is the best thing to drink out here for us,” says Duke.

This record setting heat, hovering in the 100s for days on end have many people who spend their days outside taking precaution.

They know things can turn quickly?

“Lots of little protein bars to keep you kinda going with energy and if you need a break then take one. You don’t want to kinda kill yourself out here in the heat,” says Michael Beller, who works with Greenscape Lawn Care in Bartlett.

When you are working hard, it’s easy for the heat to get the best of you.

Gregory Roberson cuts four  to eight  yards a day between 6am and Noon.

He spends six hours in the scorching sun.

Roberson says timing out  your work is key, “The biggest part is we try to get out during the coolest part of the morning and try to wrap it up between 12 and 1 before the hottest part of the day gets here.”

The workers say the evening is also a better time to do outside work.

The temperatures start cooling off as it gets later and that yard work is  a lot less taxing.