Brrrrrrrace Your Workers for the Cold

As with all potential hazards, prevention is the best method for staying safe in the cold. For example, train your workers to prevent cold problems by taking these precautions:

• Limit exposure to cold, especially if it’s windy or humid.
• Be especially careful if you’re older, overweight, or have allergies or poor circulation.
• Know that problems can arise in above-freezing temperatures.
• Know that problems can arise from touching a subfreezing object.
• Be especially careful if you smoke, drink, or take medications.
• Don’t bathe, smoke, or drink alcohol before going into the cold.

When workers must spend time in the cold, advise them to wear layers of loose dry clothing with cotton or wool underlayers and a waterproof top layer. In addition, workers also need to:

• Cover head, hands, feet, and face.
• Dry or change wet clothing immediately.
• Keep moving when they’re in the cold.
• Take regular breaks in warm areas.
• Move to a warm area if they feel very cold or numb.
• Drink a warm, nonalcoholic, decaffeinated beverage.

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Train workers to recognize the symptoms of cold injuries such as frostbite and hypothermia. Use this table as a handout:

FROSTBITE	HYPOTHERMIA
Feeling uncomfortably cold	Feeling cold
Feeling numb	Pain in extremities
Feeling tingling, aching, or brief pain	Shivering
Skin going from white to grayish yellow to reddish violet to black	Numbness and/or stiffness
Skin blisters	Poor coordination
Unconsciousness	Drowsiness
	Slow or irregular breathing or heart rate
	Slurred speech
	Cool skin
	Puffy face
	Confusion
	Apathy

Also, train workers on what actions to take if they have these symptoms. Use this table:

FROSTBITE	HYPOTHERMIA
Don’t rub body part or apply heat lamp or hot water bottles.	Call for medical help.
Don’t go near a hot stove.	Give artificial respiration if needed.
Don’t break blisters.	Move into warm area.
Warm frozen body part quickly with sheets or blankets or warm—not hot—water.	Get out of frozen, wet, or tight clothes.
Exercise warmed body part—but don’t walk on feet.	Bundle in warm clothes or blankets.
Get medical attention if needed.	Drink something warm—but no caffeine or alcohol.
Elevate frozen body part and cover with sterile cloths before moving.

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In addition to hazard identification, your workers have other safety responsibilities. Here are the “Top Ten”:

1. Know and follow safe work procedures.
2. Avoid obvious unsafe acts, such as running through the work area or tossing tools.
3. Keep the work area clean and uncluttered. Keep aisles and stairways clear, clean up spills, properly dispose of flammable scrap, and take other steps to eliminate items or conditions that could create a hazard.
4. Report accidents, injuries, illnesses, exposures to hazardous substances, and near-misses immediately.
5. Report situations that don’t seem right even if you’re unsure they’re hazards. This is especially important if you’re working with hazardous chemicals; where symptoms that appear to be minor, like a headache or red skin, may be the first indicator of overexposure.
6. Cooperate with internal inspections and job hazard analyses.
7. Follow company safety rules. They combine government laws and regulations with the experience of many people in this company and this industry.
8. Look for ways to make the job safer. Do your part to improve safety by voicing your observations and making suggestions.
9. Participate in safety training. Apply what you learn and help co-workers when they’re unsure of what to do.
10. Treat safety as one of your most important job responsibilities. Your job is not only to perform particular tasks and get particular results: It’s to do those things safely.

Why It Matters

• OSHA reports that there is a danger of freezing to exposed flesh within 1 hour at temperatures of 10º Fahrenheit (F) (–12.2º Celsius) and above.
• There’s danger of freezing to exposed flesh within 1 minute at temperatures between –20ºF and 10ºF.
• There’s danger of freezing to exposed flesh within 1 second at temperatures below –20ºF.
• Wind speeds raise the temperatures at which freezing dangers occur; visit osha.gov/Publications/osha3156 for more details.

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