Is Your Crew Sun Safe?

For landscapers, working outside comes with the territory and most people in the industry will already know the basics of sun safety – cover up, wear sunscreen and drink plenty of water, but familiarity can also make the risks easy to overlook – and those risks may be intensifying

Four of New Zealand’s five warmest years on record have occurred since 2021. Overseas, the heat has been just as hard to ignore. Whatever our summer brings, for landscapers working long hours outside, it’s a timely reminder that protection from the sun and heat needs to be part of the job.

The Sun-Safe Site Checklist

Managing sun and heat doesn’t need to be complicated. Before the crew gets stuck in, consider the following:

Check the UV Index (UVI). Sun protection is recommended whenever the UVI reaches 3 or above. Don’t rely on temperature or cloud cover to judge the risk – UV radiation can’t be seen or felt. You can check the UV index using SunSmart’s UVNZ app – or on the MetService website.

Plan around the conditions. Where practical, schedule particularly strenuous or exposed jobs for cooler periods of the day and rotate workers between exposed and shaded tasks.

Make shade available. Look at both where people are working and where they’re taking their breaks.

Provide cool drinking water. Make sure it’s readily accessible rather than relying on workers to bring enough for an entire day.

Cover up. Lightweight, breathable clothing that covers as much skin as practicable provides protection while helping workers manage the heat.

Protect the head, neck and ears. Use an appropriate sun hat or, where a hard hat is required, a compatible brim or neck flap.

Protect the eyes. Use close-fitting, wraparound sunglasses or appropriate safety eyewear that provides UV protection and is suitable for the work being carried out.

Use sunscreen. Apply broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen to exposed skin and reapply regularly – particularly when sweating.

Take breaks. On particularly hot days, more frequent breaks in a cool, shaded area can help workers recover.

Know the warning signs. Make sure the crew knows what heat-related illness looks like and what to do when someone becomes unwell.

What Does Shade Look Like on a Landscaping Site?

‘Provide shade’ can sound straightforward but it’s less obvious when your workplace changes from one client’s backyard to the next.

Start with what’s already available. Could a cutting station, material preparation area or other stationary task be moved beneath an existing tree, verandah, carport or other structure? For longer jobs, a portable gazebo or pop-up canopy can create a temporary shaded work or break area. A vehicle awning can perform a similar job.

Think about the site set-up too. If you’re going to establish a smoko area, tool station or saw bench for several days, positioning it in shade from the outset is easier than trying to solve the problem once everyone is already working. Remember that shade will move as the sun moves, so what works at 9am may offer little protection at 2pm.