A note from Ira Beckerman, President of PAC
If you had not already seen this, it is with sadness that I bring to your attention the recent death of Kaylen Gehrke, an aspiring young archaeologist who was on her first day on a new job in Texas. She was part of an archaeological survey team. Notably, the weather service temperature for the day was 98 degrees with a heat index over 107 (https://www.natchitochestimes.com/2022/07/12/woman-dies-from-apparent-heat-related-illness-on-first-day-of-job-in-kisatchie/).
Please consider donating the the family-authorized GoFundMe for her funeral expenses: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kaylen-gehrkes-funeral-services.
Perhaps the best way to remember Ms. Gehrke is to take this as a teachable moment. In my youth, archaeologists thought of themselves as the “cowboys of science,” and generally disdained any and all safety measures as signs of weakness. Much in common with high school football at the time.
Any of you that perform fieldwork should have been trained and prepared for the field by your employers. Because Ms. Gehrke apparently died from heat stroke, we are providing some resources that were shared with us by Jim Wright at Terracon, a consulting engineering firm, based in Kansas. Most pertinent is the NIOSH sheet on how to hydrate to avoid heat stress.
Also relevant is the National Weather Service’s guide to the heat index (https://www.weather.gov/safety/heat-index). I would hope that you all are already familiar with these resources.
In addition, Jim Wright also offered some Terracon-specific advice that is worth sharing:
Our High Risk Season is now. The key to high risk season safety is the conversations we have with one another. If Kaylen was a Terracon employee, would she have had a Green bag Talk? Would she and her supervisor have discussed her recent move from Colorado to Texas and budgeted time for her to acclimate to the changing temperatures? Would she know the heat illness risks of, “just walking through the forest” to perform an archaeological survey? Would her co-workers on the project know to keep an eye on her during her first week of work? Would Kaylen know where to find the heat illness prevention resources available to her? Would Kaylen be willing to stop work at any time, take a break, and rest? Would everyone on her team know each other’s, “Why”? Why I work safe?
As we are entering the warmest part of Summer, which coincides with the height of fieldwork, do take a moment to check down your preparations for the day and take those measures that will keep you well.
