Adobe Stock
2025 is on track to be the second hottest year on average in the United States, following 2024, with temperatures 1.76 degrees above the historical average.
Steamy conditions can pose a threat to superintendents and maintenance teams who spend long hours outside.
Sentry Insurance conducted a survey, finding 48 percent of employers admitted to requiring their staff to work longer hours with fewer breaks. Since 2021, the company has also noticed a 60 percent rise in heat-related claims.
Kyra Villalon, an industrial hygienist at Sentry Insurance, says there are factors course managers and employees can control when protecting themselves from the weather.
One controllable factor is being aware of one’s conditions, including age, past heat experiences and other health issues.
“Everyone’s different and everyone reacts differently to the heat," Villalon says. "This is especially true if you’ve had a prior heat injury, or have different medical conditions and health issues. So, when you see everybody else working at a similar pace and not taking breaks, it’s important to know your body. It’s OK to say, ‘Hey, I actually don’t feel great. I’m going to pay more attention to myself and take more frequent breaks.’”
Awareness also includes understanding heat stress and heat strain. “Heat stress is a set of conditions, or more specifically, there are a set of conditions that make it difficult for the body to regulate its core temperature,” she says.
When bodies are under stress from the heat, some may experience heat strain, which can quickly get serious. Symptoms of heat strain include nausea, headaches and dehydration.
If untreated, physical symptoms such as profuse sweating and flush or red skin become noticeable. Eventually internal ones, including cramps, dizziness and cognitive effects like confusion, occur at later stages.
People who have previously experienced heat strain are more susceptible because their bodies have a lower threshold for self-regulating in scorching temperatures, Villalon says.
“Think of it like when you smell something bad or eat something bad, you become more sensitive to it," Villalon says. "Your body has a more adverse reaction the next time you encounter it. It actually is the same way with heat.”
With acres stretching from the front and back nine, superintendents may not always be able to reach their team. Villalon recommends they practice a buddy system when working throughout the course.
“They’re being sent out into the course, where maybe there is no shade and they are doing physically intensive work,” she says. “Bring a buddy with them, so that way, maybe even a buddy can monitor them.”
Villalon adds there are devices like arm bands tracking temperatures and using GPS locations to help employees get medical attention quicker, when needed.
The survey also found 24 percent of employers delay safety upgrades, which can help workers during the summer weather, because of financial pressures.
“I think it’s just important to remind people that this is a tumultuous time, certainly for everybody in the economic landscape,” Villalon says, “but we have to take a step back and focus on our workforce because keeping everyone safe and healthy is truly the key to sustaining a business.”
To protect the workforce, she recommends courses practice administrative controls like shorter shifts, shade time and hydration breaks. She adds these breaks can also be turned into competitions, making getting the needed water intake fun and achievable.
Other best practices, like using carts to move heavy bags of fertilizer, driving carts to holes instead of walking and having mist fans, can keep staff safe and cool.
Villalon says heat should always remain a factor in decision making, recommending courses and companies create their own heat protocols.
“If heat stress isn’t treated properly, it’s a medical emergency in the making,” she adds. “It deserves to be treated as seriously as every other safety risk. As leaders, as coworkers, as people, we have to factor heat into our safety awareness because prevention truly is our only defense.”
Adriana Gasiewski is a Kent State University senior and Golf Course Industry’s summer editorial assistant.
