PORTLAND — As the temperatures pushed 80 degrees at a job site in the West End early this month, about a dozen workers pulled ice pops out of a cooler. Some tore off the plastic edges with their teeth. Others sliced them with box-cutters.

The cold treats have become a staple at Hebert Construction sites this summer as crews endured a hotter-than-average season punctuated by short, sharp heat waves.

And unlike bottles of water, the handheld, quick-melting nature of ice pops demand an uninterrupted break. Nicole Ritchie, operations manager at Hebert, said staying cool is as much a mental task as a physical one.

"Our biggest threat isn't the level of heat; working in 70- to 90-degree heat isn't a difficult level of heat to work in," she said. Rather, issues arise when workers who are

See Full Page