The construction foreman collapses before lunch. The park ranger finishes her shift with a splitting headache and confusion. The hiker's legs stop responding halfway up a moderate trail. All in conditions we'd call safe: 85 to 90 degrees.

These aren't outliers. They're symptoms of something larger: the Outdoor Health & Safety Gap. The world is going outside to work and play more than ever and the tools to keep us safe haven't caught up.

We Think We Understand Heat. We Don't

We've built entire safety systems around convenience metrics like air temperature and Heat Index, but temperature just gives you a number and Heat Index doesn’t go far enough. It adds humidity so you know how it feels resting in the shade, but neither reflect what your body is actually experiencing when you're moving, working, and exposed to wind and sun. These might be useful for comfort but they’re dangerously misleading for physiology. This disconnect between what we think we know and what our bodies are actually enduring creates a dangerous gap.

Fortunately, the measurement needed to bridge this gap already exists.

Wet Bulb Globe Temperature: The Right Metric

Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) captures the complete story: air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed. WBGT doesn't tell you how hot it feels; it tells you how hard your body must work to survive.

That's why OSHA's proposed federal rule uses it. That's why states are increasingly incorporating it into their regulatory statutes. And that's why the military has relied on it since the 1950s to keep soldiers active in extreme conditions.

Despite how important WBGT is for heat safety, it has been widely inaccessible for most people. You either deploy specialized equipment (black globe thermometers, wet bulb sensors, hourly manual readings, constant recalibration) or check National Weather Service forecasts for select U.S. locations that provide raw numbers without the context or guidance you need.

That manual lag can mean a missed warning. A worker stays on site an hour too long. A coach misses the threshold for safe play. A search-and-rescue team pushes a training exercise into the danger zone.

A youth soccer coach in Houston can't afford heat-monitoring equipment. A construction supervisor in Phoenix doesn't know what "WBGT 86°F" means for her crew. A trail runner in Atlanta has no access to WBGT at all.

So they make decisions blind. They check weather apps, see a manageable temperature, and proceed. They implement generic precautions that feel reasonable and hope their judgment is right. Sometimes it isn't.

From Measurement to Meaning

GOES Health set out to change this, not by inventing new science but by making existing science accessible and actionable.

Digital WBGT takes what was once confined to military bases and industrial sites and makes it available to anyone, anywhere on Earth. No equipment to buy. No specialized training required. Just accurate heat-risk assessment delivered in real time, with 48-hour forecasts available now and 8-day forecasts launching soon.

This technology matters because accuracy matters. GOES combines established gold-standard estimation methods with cutting-edge research to calculate WBGT for any location globally. From sports fields in Houston and São Paulo to construction sites in Phoenix and Mumbai to backcountry trails across continents, GOES translates environmental data into human health action at global scale.

But the real innovation isn't computational. It's translational. GOES doesn't just tell you the WBGT. It tells you what that number means in a given context and what to do about it.

The platform categorizes conditions into risk levels aligned with regulatory guidelines, each with specific behavioral guidance. That soccer coach doesn't just get the temperature. He gets clear direction: current conditions require frequent water breaks and reduced practice intensity. The construction supervisor doesn't need to interpret atmospheric data. Instead she understands her crew needs condition-appropriate, modified work-rest cycles.

This is what transformation looks like: we’re turning measurements into decisions that protect human lives.

Heat Intelligence for Anyone, Anywhere

This is what closing the Outdoor Health & Safety Gap looks like: professional-grade environmental intelligence coupled with actionable guidance.

The same quality of heat-risk assessment that protects soldiers and professional athletes is now accessible to youth sports programs and small construction companies. The same measurement standard California uses for worker protection is available to a trail runner planning her weekend route.

Climate change is making heat more dangerous everywhere. So we scale across every context where heat threatens human health. Outdoor employers reduce heat-illness incidents and meet intensifying regulatory requirements. Athletic programs make evidence-based decisions about training. Critical-event managers identify vulnerable populations during heat waves. Outdoor enthusiasts plan activities with the same intelligence available to elite athletes. And not just in select US locations. GOES is making heat intelligence accessible everywhere.

The Broader Mission

At GOES Health, we believe the outdoors shouldn't be dangerous by default; it should be understandable, measurable, and manageable.

The tools exist to quantify nature's risks and translate them into safe behavior. Our mission is ensuring everyone has access to those tools, not just those with institutional resources or specialized knowledge.

Digital WBGT is the first critical step in that mission. It's the foundational component of our broader Outdoor Health & Safety Platform. Because heat isn't the only environmental risk people face outdoors. Lightning, air quality, altitude, and cold exposure all present quantifiable dangers that most people navigate with insufficient intelligence. Each represents a gap between outdoor participation and preparedness.

We're building the platform that closes those gaps—one risk at a time, one tool at a time.

The Future of Outdoor Safety

The future of outdoor safety is about access to insight and information. It's about giving a municipal parks employee the same environmental intelligence available to a military training officer. It's about ensuring a weekend hiker has the same heat-risk assessment as a professional expedition guide. It's about being confident in our preparation to be safe outside in a changing world.

GOES Health is already in active collaboration with outdoor industry leaders who see heat not as a seasonal inconvenience but as a year-round safety imperative. If your organization is committed to protecting people outdoors, let's connect. Together, we can make outdoor health intelligence a standard, not a privilege.

Closing the Outdoor Health & Safety Gap isn't just about technology. It's about impact. The more people and partners who adopt this intelligence, the more lives we protect.

Get in touch with our team if your organization is interested in closing the gap.

Dr. Colin Little MD, FAWM

Chief Medical Officer, GOES Health

Emergency Physician | Wilderness Medicine Specialist