Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
It’s hot enough simply just standing in the sweltering heat but some have to do a lot more than that.
One of the hottest jobs to have on days where the temperature reaches above 30 degrees Celsius involves a City of Regina crew laying hot asphalt.
“It comes out of the plant between 150, 200 degrees and we get it out here it hasn’t cool down much,” explained Allan Carton, who leads a team of about half a dozen.
This crew doesn’t get the luxury of wearing shorts to work. They also have to wear their reflective vests on top of their regular clothes. But that’s nothing compared to the heat that’s generated from the asphalt mix freshly after it’s poured and raked out. It’s then flattened by a road roller.
The hotness emanates up from the street.
“Between the heat of the sun and the heat of the asphalt it gets pretty warm, probably over 40 or so standing on the asphalt,” described Carton.
A full eight hour day of working in that kind of heat can be pretty overwhelming if you aren’t prepared.
“You pace yourself so that you don’t get into a heat stress situation and just drink plenty of fluids and take breaks in the shade.”
Over his 40 years on the job, Carton said he’s seen people get sick with heat stroke because they didn’t take the proper precautions. He said if it gets too hot they aren’t allowed to work and they’re careful about knowing exactly when to take a rest from the heat. Sometimes they’ll hit the store for ice cream and sometimes Carton said even homeowners will bring the crew water and other cool treats.
KMartel@rawlco.com
Follow on Twitter: @KevinMartel
