Keeping warm and dry outside in severe winter weather is essential for protecting health. Everyone should know how to keep safe in severe weather and cold temperatures because you never know when you'll be caught outside or stranded in your vehicle under hostile weather conditions.

Hypothermia

Hypothermia occurs when body temperature gets dangerously low.

• Windy conditions, fatigue, and wet clothing increase the risk of hypothermia.
• Hypothermia can even occur when temperatures are not that cold.
• Symptoms include cold and shivering followed by pain in the extremities and also numbness, stiffness, poor coordination, drowsiness, slow or irregular breathing and heart rate, slurred speech, cool skin, and puffiness in the face.

Frostbite

Another common hazard associated with cold temperatures and severe winter weather is frostbite.

• Body parts most often affected are the nose, ears, cheeks, fingers, and toes. Skin may appear white and feel hard to the touch, but soft underneath. It is important to get out of the cold or protect the affected body part at the stage of these early symptoms.
• More serious symptoms include uncomfortably cold feeling, then numbness, which be accompanied by tingling, aching, or a brief pain. Skin darkens, looks grayish, and can blister.
• Severe frostbite can cause permanent tissue damage and loss of movement.

Think you have no time to train? Think again. BLR's 7-Minute Safety Trainer helps you fulfill key OSHA-required training tasks in as little as 7 minutes. Try it at no cost and see!

Several factors can increase the risk of frostbite:

• Use of alcohol
• Smoking
• Blood vessel diseases
• Diabetes
• Prior frostbite

Protection Against Cold-Related Illness

• Dress in layers of loose, dry clothes—cotton, silk, wool underneath and an outer layer of waterproof and wind-resistant material.
• Cover hands, feet, head, and face. Body heat is lost mainly through the head, so a hat is essential when it's cold outside.
• Keep moving when out in the cold.
• Take regular breaks in a warm place.

Effective, 7-minute sessions providing comprehensive safety training at an average cost of $1 a day. Get the details.

Warm Up Your Safety Training

To help train employees in a broad range of safety and health topics, savvy safety professionals have for years relied on the BLR® 7-Minute Safety Trainer. This essential training resource allows you to provide concise, memorable training easily and effectively in just a few minutes. Materials are ready-to-use, and each session supplies a detailed trainer's outline as well as a handout, quiz, and quiz answers to get your points across quickly—and cost-effectively.

All told, this "trainer's bible" contains 50 prewritten meetings covering almost every aspect of safety you'd want or need to train on, in a format designed to be taught in as little as 7 minutes. Major topics include:

—Confined spaces
—Electrical safety
—Fire safety and emergency response
—HazCom
—Machine guarding and lockout/tagout
—Material handling
—PPE use and care
—Housekeeping/slips, trips, and falls
—and dozens more

Just make as many copies as you need of the included handouts and quizzes, and you're ready to train.

Equally important is that the program ships new meetings every quarter to respond to new and changed regulations. This service is included in the program price, which averages just over $1 a working day. In fact, this is one of BLR's most popular safety programs.

If you'd like to personally evaluate 7-Minute Safety Trainer and see how it can build safety awareness, we'll be happy to send it to you for 30 days on a no-cost, no-obligation trial basis. Just let us know, and we'll arrange it.