When the temperature equals or exceeds 95 degrees Fahrenheit on count day in California, five high-heat duties apply. They come from California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 3395, which covers outdoor places of employment, so check how it applies to your building.
Key takeaways
- High-heat procedures switch on at 95 degrees Fahrenheit, so a count-day shift planned months earlier can turn into a high-heat day with little notice.
- The five duties are: keep communication open, observe employees for heat illness, designate who calls emergency services, remind everyone to drink water, and hold a pre-shift meeting.
- Count days add distance, lifting, ladders, and stacked pallets — all of which make the five duties harder to run and easier to skip.
- The water reminder runs throughout the work shift, not only at the kickoff huddle.
- You can work the five duties into your count-day plan without slowing the count.
Why count day changes the heat picture
A stock count is different from a normal shift. People fan out across the building. Some head to the back lot. Someone is always in the far aisle with a scanner and no supervisor in sight.
Now add heat. When the temperature equals or exceeds 95 degrees Fahrenheit, the high-heat procedures in Section 3395 apply.
The high-heat threshold matters because warehouse and retail counts often start early and run long. A morning that begins mild can reach the threshold by mid-afternoon. Your plan has to be ready for that.
Count day also concentrates risk. People are moving faster than usual. They carry clipboards, scanners, and stock instead of taking breaks on schedule. They walk past pallets they do not normally pass. Heat illness shows up faster when the body is working harder.
This post walks through the five duties you must cover, what each looks like in a real count, and how to fit them into your count-day plan without losing a shift's worth of productivity.
What starts the clock
The high-heat duty kicks in when the temperature equals or exceeds 95 degrees Fahrenheit. That is the trigger stated in the regulation text: "The employer shall implement high-heat procedures when the temperature equals or exceeds 95 degrees Fahrenheit."
You do not need a weather service alert or a Cal/OSHA visit to start. You watch the temperature. If it hits the mark, you run the procedures. This is why many managers build a simple habit: check the forecast before scheduling the count, and check the actual temperature on the floor before the shift starts.
The duty does not stop at a number on a phone. Outdoor readings in a parking lot and conditions inside a truck bay can differ. Keep a close eye on the people in the warmest zones of the building.
For a count day, the practical move is simple. Put a temperature check on the count-day startup list. If it is at or above the threshold, tell the crew before anyone picks up a scanner.
The five duties, side by side
Here is the full list in one place so your count-day lead can scan it on a clipboard.
| Duty | What you do on count day |
|---|---|
| Keep communication open | Make sure anyone can reach a supervisor by voice, observation, or electronic means |
| Observe employees | Watch for alertness and signs or symptoms of heat illness during the count |
| Designate who calls EMS | Name one or more people for each worksite; let anyone call if no designated person is around |
| Remind people to drink water | Tell employees throughout the shift to drink plenty of water |
| Run a pre-shift meeting | Before work starts, review the high-heat procedures, push water drinking, and remind people of the cool-down rest right |
Now let us take each one and make it real for a count.
Duty 1: Keep communication open
The regulation requires effective communication by voice, observation, or electronic means so employees at the worksite can contact a supervisor when necessary.
On a normal shift, people can walk up to a supervisor. On count day, the supervisor might be three aisles away or on the other side of the dock. Distance breaks communication faster than any other part of the count.
Pick your method before the shift. Some sites use handheld radios. Some rely on phones or a messaging app. Some use a buddy system where pairs check in. The method matters less than whether it actually works from the far corner of the floor.
Test the channel before the count starts. Walk to the worst spot in the building and confirm you can reach the supervisor. A radio that works at the desk but not in the back room is not a communication system.
If you use voice radios, set a simple check-in interval. Long stretches of silence are where problems hide. A quick call every so often keeps the line alive and gives the supervisor a chance to hear how someone sounds.
Electronic tools have their own failure modes. Batteries die. Apps lose signal in cold storage. Put a backup in place and tell everyone what it is before you start.
Observation counts as communication too. If a spotter can see a worker, that is one of the accepted methods in the rule. Plan sight lines when you assign count zones. Zones that hide people from view need a different tool.
Duty 2: Observe employees for heat illness
The rule is direct: observe employees for alertness and signs or symptoms of heat illness.
Heat illness does not always look dramatic. Early signs show up as changes in behavior. A worker who is normally chatty goes quiet. Someone starts moving slower without a clear reason. Heat stroke can bring confusion, high body temperature, and convulsions, according to Oregon OSHA.
Count day makes observation harder because people split up. You lose the natural supervision of a line or a shared bench. Assign zones and name a watcher for each zone. Rotate watchers so they do not spend the whole shift scanning instead of counting.
Give watchers a short list of things to look for: confusion, convulsions, or a worker who just does not seem right. You do not need a medical diagnosis on the floor. You need someone to notice and act.
Train your watchers before count day, not on count day. A five-minute walkthrough of the signs at the pre-shift meeting pays for itself if one person catches a problem early.
Watch for people working alone in enclosed spaces. Count day often sends someone into a cage, a trailer, or a storage room with no one else nearby. Check on those people more often than you think you need to do.
If someone shows signs, stop the count for that person and get them to a cooler spot. Confusion, convulsions, collapse, or any worker who is not fully alert means calling emergency medical services right away and giving no fluids. Your site's response plan does not replace that call. Do not push through to finish a zone.
Duty 3: Designate who calls for emergency medical services
The rule requires you to designate one or more employees on each worksite as authorized to call for emergency medical services. It also allows other employees to call when no designated employee is available.
This duty looks simple and fails in practice. The designated person goes to lunch. Their phone is in a locker. Nobody knows who carries the role today.
For count day, name the person by name at the pre-shift meeting. Write it on the count board. Make sure they have a working phone with them, not in a locker or a break-room drawer.
Name a backup. Shifts move around on count day. Someone might leave early or take a call in the office. Two names on the list costs nothing and covers the gap.
The rule's fallback matters: other employees can call when no designated person is available. That means everyone should know how to reach emergency services. Put the number somewhere people can see it without hunting.
Walk the path to the phone. On a busy count floor, phones can be buried under paperwork.
The designated caller should also know the site address and any gate code or dock entrance that an ambulance would need. An ambulance called fast to the wrong door is still late.
Duty 4: Remind employees to drink plenty of water
The rule says to remind employees throughout the work shift to drink plenty of water.
"Throughout" is the key word. A reminder at the morning huddle is not enough on a long count. People forget, especially when they are focused on scanning and reconciling numbers.
Build reminders into the count rhythm. If you run zone check-ins every hour, add the water reminder to the script. Keep it short so it does not slow the zone.
Place water where the work happens. A cooler at the desk does not help someone counting in the far bay. Put coolers near ladders, dock edges, and staging areas where people are working hardest.
Watch for the worker who skips breaks to finish a zone. On count day, finishing feels urgent. Your lead should tell zones it is fine to take a moment for water. That message from the top makes the reminder stick. For planning those pauses, see Stock count breaks: 9 steps for planning staff time.
If your site allows electrolyte drinks or other options, set them out alongside water. The rule names water, and water is what the reminder is about. Anything beyond that is your site's call.
Ask people how the water supply is holding up. An empty cooler at hour three is a real problem on a hot day. Check levels as often as you check counts.
Fitting the reminders into the count flow
You do not have to stop the count to hit this duty. Work the reminder into the natural pauses you already have: zone sign-offs, scanner battery swaps, pallet moves, and label restocks. Each of those is a moment when a lead is already talking to a group. Add one line about water and move on.
This approach keeps the count moving while still hitting the requirement throughout the shift. It also keeps the reminder from feeling like a lecture. Short, repeated, and tied to real moments works better than a long speech at the start.
Duty 5: Hold a pre-shift meeting before work starts
The rule is specific about what the meeting covers: review the high heat procedures, encourage employees to drink plenty of water, and remind employees of their right to take a cool-down rest when necessary.
The meeting happens before work starts. Not after the first zone loads. Not during the first scanner sync. Before anyone begins counting.
Keep it tight. People want to start. A meeting that drags becomes background noise. Hit the three points the rule names and add your count-specific logistics.
For count day, add these on top:
- Who is the designated caller today, and who is the backup
- What communication channel everyone is on, and how to test it
- Which zones are hottest, and who watches each zone
- Where the water coolers sit, and how to get more if one runs dry
- What to do if someone shows signs of heat illness
Write the agenda on the count board so it stays visible after the meeting ends. The board doubles as a reference when someone has a question at hour four.
The cool-down rest reminder deserves attention on count day. People skip rests when they are chasing a count target. Say out loud that the right to take a cool-down rest still applies during the count. Leaders who say it once at the start give crews permission to use it later.
Encourage water drinking at the meeting too. Fill your bottle before we start is a small instruction that sets the tone for the shift.
How the five duties fit a count-day schedule
A count day usually has a shape: kickoff, zones, reconciliation, closeout. The high-heat duties map onto that shape cleanly.
Before the shift: check the temperature. If the threshold is met, set the high-heat procedures in motion. Name your designated caller and backup. Test the communication channel. Stage water where the work will happen.
At the pre-shift meeting: review the high-heat procedures, push water drinking, and remind everyone of the cool-down rest right. Introduce the designated caller and backup. Confirm zones and watchers.
During the count: run observation through your zone watchers. Deliver water reminders at every natural pause. Keep the communication channel open with check-ins. Watch the temperature as the day warms.
At breaks and zone changes: top up water, check on anyone who has been working alone, and repeat the short reminder. Notice who has slowed down or gone quiet.
At closeout: quick check on how people feel before they head out. Note anything for the next count so you improve the plan.
Illustrative example: one count day at 95 degrees
Take a count with 4 zones. Before work starts, the lead names a designated caller and a backup, tests the radio from the far zone, and reviews the high-heat procedures with the crew. At midday the thermometer reads 95 degrees Fahrenheit, so the high-heat procedures apply from that point. The lead checks each zone every 30 minutes, and each check includes a water reminder. The lead also reminds the crew of their right to a cool-down rest.
Common count-day failures and how to avoid them
The designated caller is unreachable. They stepped into the office or left their phone in a locker. Name a backup and tell everyone who carries the role today.
Communication tested at the desk only. It works at the front and dies in the back. Walk the building and test from the far zones before the count starts.
Observation falls apart when zones split up. Nobody is watching because everyone is counting. Assign a watcher to each zone and rotate them.
Water reminders happen once. The morning huddle mentions it and then silence for six hours. Tie the reminder to pauses you already have on the schedule.
The pre-shift meeting gets skipped for a fast start. The count starts before anyone covers the procedures. Protect the meeting on the calendar. It is short and it is required.
The cool-down rest right goes unsaid. People push through because they think the target comes first. Say it out loud at the meeting so crews know it still applies.
Your next step today: write the 95-degree trigger on your count-day startup list, then name your designated caller and a backup for the next count.
Related guides
Questions managers ask before count day
What if the count runs overnight or across a cool morning? The threshold is what it is. Watch the temperature during the shift. If it hits the mark while work is underway, start the high-heat procedures then. Do not wait for the next shift.
Do the duties apply to temporary or new staff on the count? The rules cover employees at the worksite. Treat every person on your count floor the same way. Include temps and new hires in the pre-shift meeting and the water reminders.
Can we combine the pre-shift meeting with the normal count kickoff? Yes, as long as the meeting covers the high-heat procedures, the water encouragement, and the cool-down rest reminder before work starts. Fold your count logistics in around those three points.
Who confirms the temperature on site? Put it on the startup checklist and assign a name. The person who opens the building or starts the scanners is a natural fit.
What if a zone has no radio signal? Use another accepted method from the rule, such as direct observation or an electronic tool that works there. The rule allows voice, observation, or electronic means. Pick what functions in that zone.
A short checklist you can post
Print this and put it on the count board.
- Temperature checked and threshold confirmed before start
- High-heat procedures triggered if the mark is met
- Designated caller named, backup named, both reachable
- Communication channel tested from the far zones
- Zone watchers assigned for observation
- Water staged near the hardest work areas
- Pre-shift meeting held before work starts, covering procedures, water, and cool-down rest
- Water reminders built into the natural pauses of the count
- Check-ins kept running through the shift
Run the checklist at the start, glance at it mid-shift, and use it to plan the next count. The duties are not complicated. They just have to happen every time the temperature hits the threshold.
Final word
Count day and high heat pull in opposite directions. One wants speed and focus. The other wants pauses, watching, and reminders. The five duties in this post give you a way to hold both at once.
Get the temperature check into your habit. Name the caller and back them up. Keep communication alive across the floor. Watch your people. Push water all day. Open with the meeting.