Working in the Cold

The toes, fingers, ears and nose are at greatest risk because they do not have major muscles to produce heat. Mental alertness is also reduced.

• Chilblain – redness, swelling, tingling and pain
• Immersion foot/Trenchfoot – caused by prolonged wet or cold feet; symptoms include tingling, numbness, itching, pain, swelling, and blisters
• Frostnip – caused when top layers of skin freeze, turning white, numb and hard, but deeper tissue feels normal
• Frostbite – occurs when tissue temperature falls below the freezing point or when blood flow is obstructed; symptoms include inflammation of the skin in patches and slight pain. In severe cases, there could be tissue damage without pain, or burning or prickling sensations that result in blisters
• Hypothermia is the most severe cold injury. The excessive loss of body heat can be fatal. Warning signs include nausea, fatigue, dizziness, irritability, euphoria, pain in the extremities (hands, feet, ears), and severe shivering. Move workers to a heated shelter and seek medical advice when appropriate.

Employers should:

• Choose equipment with thermal insulating materials and tools that can be operated with gloves.
• Survey and monitor the temperature.
• Train managers, supervisors and workers on symptoms, safe work practices, re-warming procedures, proper clothing practices, and what to do in case of cold injury.
• Use a buddy system to watch for symptoms in others.
• Clearly outline emergency procedures, with at least one trained person available at all times.
• Adjust the pace or rate of work (not too low that a person becomes cold, nor too high and cause heavy sweating or wet clothing).
• Allow time for new workers to become accustomed to the conditions.
• Provide or make sure that protective clothing is worn at or below 4°C, including layers of warm clothing, a wind-resistant outer layer, a hat, mittens or insulated gloves, a scarf, neck tube or face mask, and insulated, waterproof footwear.

What the law says

Some jurisdictions provide a range of acceptable temperatures (http://bit.ly/cold_legislation) for specific circumstances. Others use the Threshold Limit Values® for cold stress published by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) as occupational exposure limits or guidelines.

Where there are no maximum exposure limits for cold working environments, there are guidelines that can be used to conduct work/task assessments, create safe work plans, and monitor conditions.