For many workers in our part of the country, cold winter weather is simply a part of their workday. Cold weather may even be taken for granted by both employer and employee in some situations.
However, anytime an individual is asked to perform work in frigid weather, there is the risk of an on-the-job accident. For instance, an office worker asked to meet with a client may slip and fall on black ice in the client’s parking lot.
Moreover, there are several lines of work with significantly high risks of bodily injury caused by winter weather conditions.
Cold weather worksites are particularly hazardous for those working in the following industries:
- Construction (including roadways, bridges, and other infrastructure);
- Farming;
- First Responders (e.g., police officers, firefighters, EMS);
- Garbage and Trash Collection;
- Maritime;
- Transportation: Delivery Services (e.g., Amazon; Fed Ex; UPS; etc.);
- Transportation: Long-Haul Trucking;
- Utilities (including snow cleanup); and
- Warehousing.
One of the greatest threats to worker safety in cold weather conditions is exposure to the cold itself. Aside from winter accidents like slip and falls or motor vehicle collisions caused by ice and snow, employees can be seriously or fatally hurt by the cold itself. This is caused by something called “cold stress.”
What is Cold Stress?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration warns that workers are at risk of “cold stress” when their body heat leaves quickly due to the low temperature in their environment. Cold stress escalates when the cold temperatures are coupled with an increasing wind speed.
Worker cold stress injuries begin with a rapidly decreasing external skin temperature. Extremities may be injured; there may be tissue damage. If left unattended, the cold stress can escalate to a lower internal body temperature (“core temperature”) which can result in death.
What is happening? The cold itself makes the human body escalate its efforts to maintain its proper temperature (98.6°F). However, the cold may win, and the body temperature can fall. The worker will fall victim to cold stress brought on by the winter weather conditions, particularly when the wind is involved.
As OSHA explains:
A cold environment forces the body to work harder to maintain its temperature. Whenever temperatures drop below normal and wind speed increases, heat can leave your body more rapidly.
Wind chill is the temperature your body feels when air temperature and wind speed are combined. For example, when the air temperature is 40°F, and the wind speed is 35 mph, the effect on the exposed skin is as if the air temperature was 28°F.
Cold stress occurs by driving down the skin temperature and eventually the internal body temperature (core temperature). This may lead to serious health problems, and may cause tissue damage, and possibly death.
Increased Risk of Cold Stress Injury
There are things that can increase the likelihood of a worker being injured by cold stress.
- Someone suffering from fatigue or exhaustion is more likely to be harmed by environmental cold and wind chill.
- Improper clothing and the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (“PPE”) can make even the fittest employee at risk of cold stress injuries.
- If the worker suffers from physical health challenges including diabetes or hypothyroidism, then the danger of cold stress impairment increases.
- The longer the worker is asked to perform duties in the extreme cold, the greater the danger of bodily harm due to cold stress.
For workers suffering from cold stress, physical injuries can be serious and even life-threatening. They include:
- Frostbite – Body tissues freeze; can result in amputation.
- Hypothermia – Internal body temperature falls to 95°F or less; can lead to death if left untreated.
- Immersion Foot or Trench Foot – non-freezing harm to foot; can cause pain, numbness, and blisters.
Signs of Cold Stress Injury
The first symptoms of cold stress harm may not be self-evident to the worker. Others may be able to see signs of cold stress before the worker-victim is aware they are in trouble. Signs include:
- Brain fog
- Breathing slows
- Chills
- Clumsy behavior
- Confusion
- Exhaustion
- Feeling faint
- Fatigue
- Heart rate slows
- Numbness of hands, feet
- Passes out (loss of consciousness)
- Shivering
- Skin blisters
- Skin is grey or white in patches
- Skin feels hard or firm
- Stumbling
- Slurred speech
- Temperature is 95°F or less.
Employer’s Duty to Protect Workers Against Cold Stress Injuries on the Job
While there is no specific safety regulation dedicated to protecting workers against cold stress injuries, there remains a legal duty of care and safety that demands employers keep workers safe from this type of on-the-job harm.
Specifically, Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act Of 1970 defines a legal duty placed upon employers to give their workers a workplace that is free from recognized health hazards. This is the Act’s “general duty clause.” For more, read Workplace Safety and OSHA Regulations in Indiana and Illinois.
There is also the Emergency Preparedness Guide provided by OSHA that details how companies in Indiana, Illinois, and the rest of the country can protect employees against cold stress injuries. While it is not federal law, it is an important reference tool for employers who are concerned about protecting their workers from cold stress injuries. Read the OSHA Cold Stress Guide here.
Among the things that workers should be able to depend upon their employers to do:
- Educate workers on the signs and symptoms of cold stress
- Educate supervisors on the signs and symptoms of cold stress
- Establish work schedules with specific time breaks from cold conditions
- Have signs and alerts to emergency medical services on the worksite
- Implement the buddy system for workers in cold conditions
- Increase the number of work breaks on cold weather days
- Make sure workers are wearing the proper PPE for cold stress prevention
- Monitor the National Weather Service for weather conditions, particularly wind chill warnings
- Provide the proper PPE for cold working conditions
- Provide warm environments for worker breaks
- Provide radiant heaters on the jobsite
- Provide warm drinks for workers (e.g., coffee, tea, hot chocolate)
- Schedule outside work for the warmest part of the day, if possible
- Train workers on the dangers of cold stress
- Train supervisors on the dangers of cold stress
- Train workers in emergency first aid for cold injuries on the worksite.
Worker Cold Stress Injuries in Indiana or Illinois
Our part of the country is notorious for our severe winters, where blizzards are not uncommon and icy conditions are often a part of the average workday. It is vital that employers protect workers from the harm that can come from cold working environments here in Indiana and Illinois.
A simple change in schedule; the reminder that fresh, dry gloves are needed; or the monitoring of the changing weather may mean a worker is protected against life-threatening injuries, amputation or loss of limb, or even death.
For workers who are harmed on the job from cold stress injuries, there are legal avenues for justice available to them and their loved ones. Claims may be made under the state workers’ compensation statutes as well as personal injury laws including negligence, premises liability, or defective products in some situations.
For more, read:
- Winter Weather Accidents Caused by Negligent Fleet Management
- Serious or Deadly Winter Construction Accidents in Illinois and Indiana
- Winter Weather Fatal Truck Crashes on Indiana and Illinois Roads
- Winter Weather Accident Deaths: Duty of Care during Winter Weather Conditions
- Amputation Injuries from On-the-Job Work Accidents in Indiana or Illinois
- Premises Liability and Workplace Accidents: Third Party Injury Claims.
Winter weather is often recognized for the risks of falls or traffic accidents on the job. Cold stress injuries are another very real danger facing workers in Indiana and Illinois. Please be careful out there!
