In what has become the most tragic example of the risk surrounding heatstroke, more than three dozen children died so far this year from being left in dangerously hot vehicles. Hundreds more kids have died this way since 1998, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Children and the elderly may be especially susceptible to heatstroke, an illness also known as sunstroke that strikes when the body's temperature rises above 104 degrees. Schools, childcare facilities, jobsites with workers toiling through summer's hottest days, and facilities engaged in crowd management must remain vigilant to keep people safe from this preventable illness. In honor of National Heatstroke Prevention Day today, the slideshow above includes tips for keeping kids and workers during extreme heat. |

The risk to kids

The NHTSA urges caregivers to remember that kids left in hot cars can suffer severe injuries or death, and the adults responsible for those kids can face prosecution as well as "a lifetime of regret." Outside of auto accidents, heatstroke is the leading vehicle-related killer of children, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. On a hot day, cars heat up faster and become hotter than the air outside because the sun's ray radiate off a vehicle's metal, glass and plastics, then cooks up to even higher temperatures inside a closed automobile. Experts say that even when external temperatures are a pleasant 70 to 80 degrees, the inside of a car can be as much as 50 degrees hotter than that. Here are the top reasons youngsters end up suffering from vehicular heatstroke: |

• A child is forgotten by a caregiver;
• A child gained access to an unattended vehicle; or
• A child was intentionally left in the vehicle by an adult.

"Tragedies like this can and do happen to doting, responsible, loving parents," Janette Fennell, president and founder of KidsAndCars.org, said in a prepared statement earlier this week after Juan Rodriguez, 39, a social worker in the Bronx, accidentally left his twin toddlers in his car while he went to work. According to the New York Post: "Eight hours later, the twins, Luna and Phoenix, registered an internal temperature of 108 degrees when coroners examined their bodies in their car seats." Fennell believes the solution lies with in-vehicles sensors. "Children will continue to die in hot cars until technological solutions that can sense the presence of a child are standard in all vehicles," she said. |

The risk to workers

In 2014 alone, 2,630 workers suffered from heat illness and 18 died from heat stroke and related causes on the job, according to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration. Under OSHA rules, employers are responsible for providing workplaces free of known safety hazards. This includes protecting workers from extreme heat. In addition to taking the preventative measures outlined above, the Insurance Council of Texas advises monitoring for these signs of a possible heat stroke or heat exhaustion: |

• An absence of sweating, with hot red or flushed dry skin
• Rapid pulse
• Difficulty breathing
• Strange behavior
• Hallucinations
• Confusion

See also: |

• Which U.S. cities face the highest risk from climate change?
• A safe workplace: The 'secret weapon' for hiring and keeping employees
• New technologies boost job site safety, reduce risk in construction