Cold Weather Safety for Field Service Businesses
Cold conditions and severe weather can affect productivity directly and indirectly. Your business can’t control what results outside your worksite, like road closures, unsafe driving conditions, power outages, and seasonal illnesses, but you can implement a cold weather plan to make the best of it.
Winter safety programs help prevent cold stress and injuries that can stop work, lower productivity, and result in costly insurance claims. Plus, companies prioritizing safety create happier employees and find hiring and keeping top talent easier.
In a recent report from Dodge Construction Network, contractors who prioritized safety reported that they were able to:
- Negotiate better insurance terms.
- Improve their ability to bring in new business.
- See improved performance from subs.
- Increase worker retention.
To assist your business in forming a safety program, we have cold weather safety tips for employees to ensure normal operations can continue and prevent cold stress for your crew.
What is Cold Stress?
Cold stress is when the body cannot warm itself, and core temperature decreases due to cold exposure.
If left untreated, cold stress can result in these illnesses:
- Trench foot: Trench foot is caused by prolonged exposure to cold and wet conditions. It damages the nerves and blood vessels in the feet, leading to pain, swelling, numbness, and in severe cases, tissue death. Trench foot differs from frostbite as it results from prolonged wet and cold exposure and doesn’t require freezing temperatures to occur. It can occur in less than a day.
- Chilblains: This condition results from the repeated exposure of the skin to cold, but not freezing, air. It causes red, itchy, swollen patches on the skin, typically on the face, fingers, legs, and toes. Chilblains are painful but not as severe as frostbite.
- Frostbite: This happens when the skin and underlying tissues freeze, usually affecting extremities like fingers, toes, nose, and ears. Symptoms include numbness, tingling, and skin discoloration. Severe frostbite can lead to permanent damage.
- Hypothermia: This occurs when the body loses heat faster than it can produce it, causing the body temperature to drop to 95°F or lower. Symptoms include shivering, confusion, slurred speech, and fatigue. In severe cases, it’s life-threatening.
As you can see, there are many issues that can result from cold stress, so the following cold-weather safety tips for employees are essential to protect your crew.
Cold Weather Safety Tips to Keep Your Crew Safe
With everything to consider, some businesses simply shut down for a week or take extended holidays. However, that’s not an option for all businesses, nor is it the only solution to cold conditions. Some field service businesses can pivot their usual operations to continue earning. HVAC is an obvious choice, but other businesses like roofing can utilize the off-season for more work.
Don't worry; your business can prepare for the season and keep workflows going with essential cold weather safety tips and strategies.
With cold weather fast approaching, here are our cold weather safety tips for employees to ensure your workers stay safe and warm in the winter.
1. Monitor Winter Weather Conditions Daily
The more you know, the better. Pay close attention to winter storm warnings and increasing wind-chill factors.
Seventy percent of winter-related deaths are due to vehicle crashes, and 25 percent are due to being caught in the cold without shelter. Staying on top of storm warnings gives you time to notify workers of severe winter weather before it hits. This way, they can secure work areas and leave the site safely instead of getting caught outside in freezing weather, stuck on-site, or in an accident on the road home.
Factoring in windchill ensures you don’t put workers in unsafe conditions without realizing it.
Even if the thermometer shows 35°F, a 10-mile-per-hour wind can make it feel like 27°F because wind causes the body to lose heat faster than normal. The lower the temperature and the higher the wind, the quicker your workers can succumb to frostbite and hypothermia.
So, it doesn’t always make sense to push through cold weather to get work done. Looking ahead and preparing will protect your employees and minimize necessary interruptions.
2. Develop Contingency Plans for Modifying Work Schedules or Halting Operations
We can’t control the weather, but we can control how we respond.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has no specific rule for working in cold conditions. However, the OSHA Act of 1970 requires employers to protect employees from hazards, like cold stress, that could lead to severe harm or death at the workplace.
So, how cold is too cold? When should you modify or suspend construction? What kind of cold weather safety tips for employees does your business need to use?
Local Conditions
The answer depends partly on where you operate your field service business. The varied type and intensity of weather affects how your business can plan around cold weather conditions and severe weather events.
Not everyone can handle cold the same way. People have different tolerance levels because of where they're from and how much cold they've experienced before. In Southern states with mild winters, people consider temperatures “near freezing” cold. Even workers accustomed to working in cold conditions can need time to re-acclimatize after an extended break.
Shockingly, a person can suffer from hypothermia in temperatures above freezing (most cases occur between 30 and 50 degrees) because other factors besides temperature affect how fast a human body loses heat.
Risk Factors
OSHA has developed a formula outlining the risk factors contributing to cold stress: Low Temperature + Wetness + Wind Speed = Danger of Illness or Injury.
So, if temperatures are lower than normal for your area, winds are high, and it’s raining or snowing, the risk of cold injury is high. Consider suspending operations or changing tasks to bring crews inside in these conditions.
When your crews do work in the cold, set up procedures that lessen the risk of cold stress.
Modifying Work Schedules
It can be difficult for most businesses to halt work, and industries like construction can be harmed by extended delays to project progress.
If external work is necessary for extremely cold days, schedule it in the warmest periods of the day and avoid night work unless absolutely necessary, such as emergency work.
Monitor the weather and schedule around the calmest/warmest days. Rescheduling is important in the case of severe weather. For crew unable to work on certain tasks due to conditions, you can still utilize them to help with winter-related tasks, such as salting paths or attending to equipment. It can also be an opportunity to refresh training.
Utilizing field service management software means an all-in-one solution for sudden scheduling changes, as well as employee communication and notifications. Flexibility and swift communication are key!
3. Ensure the Use of Appropriate Winter Clothing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Proper winter clothing and PPE are essential to keeping your crew warm in cold weather, and all employees should be trained on clothing cold weather safety tips.
Tips such as:
- How to Layer
- Wet Clothing Danger
- Waterproof Shoes
- Carry Spare Clothes
- Eye Protection
OSHA recommends a moisture-wicking inner layer, a middle insulating layer, and an outer layer for wind and rain protection. Clothes should be loose to maintain proper circulation.
Additionally, OSHA cold weather safety tips for employees advise wearing hats, insulated gloves, and waterproof boots. For bright days, it’s important to have glasses or goggles to protect workers’ eyes from glare.
4. Provide Warm Breaks
Workers should take frequent breaks to rest, warm up, and change out of wet clothes. To keep operations ongoing throughout winter, cold weather safety tips for employees from OSHA advise a ‘warm-up’ schedule, including additional breaks and maximum work periods.
Give them heated break areas to ensure they stay warm. Remember to use well-ventilated portable heaters and carbon monoxide sensors. Insulation is important, but not at the cost of oxygen!
Additionally, warm, non-caffeinated beverages and water should be offered to help workers stay warm and hydrated. Staying warm burns many calories, so cold weather safety tips for employees could include encouragement to eat balanced meals with plenty of fats and carbohydrates to maintain energy. Your business could even provide hot meals occasionally to show that employee health is important.
During winter, morale can be difficult to maintain so helpful gestures can energize and uplift the team.
5. Use a Buddy System to Monitor for Cold Stress
A buddy system helps spot the symptoms of cold stress early and ensures a quick response.
Each person watches for signs such as shivering, confusion, or numbness. If someone starts showing symptoms, their buddy assists and seeks help so cold stress doesn’t turn into something more serious.
Each pair should know the appropriate cold weather safety tips for employees to double-check that their buddy is wearing appropriate winter wear and necessary PPE.
In addition to using protocols to keep workers warm, inspect sites for winter hazards that could cause slips and falls.
6. Remove Winter Hazards from Worksites
Remove all snow and ice from surfaces where people walk and work, such as walkways, roofs, scaffolding, and ladders, to keep your job sites winter-ready.
Spread salt on walkways to melt ice and keep it from reforming. Advise workers to take slower, shorter steps to prevent slips and falls, especially when carrying materials and tools. Mark icy areas that can't be cleared and rope them off.
Remove any hanging icicles. Or rope off areas to prevent workers from accidentally dislodging them, which could create falling object hazards. Ensure materials and tools aren’t placed so strong winds could dislodge them.
Check vehicles daily. Clear ice and snow from windshields, top off wiper fluid and antifreeze, and keep gas tanks full.
7. Cold Weather Emergency Kits in Work Vehicles
Vehicle breakdowns can become emergency situations when the weather is freezing, as cars and trucks are poorly insulated.
All work vehicles should be stocked with cold-weather items as part of the emergency kit. These items are essential for anyone on the road to prevent hypothermia and cold stress and call for help.
These kits should include:
- Candles
- Matches
- Emergency blankets
- Battery-powered radio
- Flashlight
- Shovel
- Spare food/water
- Spare socks/clothes/hats
- Hand/Foot Warmers
- Duct Tape & Trash bags for insulation
- Whistle
A single lit candle can do a lot to keep the interior temperature stable; just be aware of the fire risk. Trash bags taped to vehicle windows help with external chill. Whistles and flashlights are handy for alerting nearby services to where a vehicle is located.
Encourage workers to keep emergency kits in their personal vehicles as well. The trip to and from work is just as important as work hours.
8. Train Workers on Winter-Related Safety Procedures
Employee winter safety starts with training.
Conduct toolbox talks and hands-on safety sessions that show crews how to spot winter hazards. Understanding and spotting winter hazards to alert the rest of the team can remedy the situation before tragedy strikes. Cold weather safety tips for employees should be made readily available and refreshed before winter sets in.
Ensure supervisors and crew leaders consider temperature, wind chill, and wet conditions before placing workers outside. Teach outdoor workers to spot signs of cold stress in themselves and others and give them basic first-aid skills.
Keep Daily Tabs on Your Teams’ Safety
Building safety check-ins are easy with ClockShark. You can create customized clock-out questions and collect important information from your team before they clock out of work. You can also verify rest breaks, confirm the removal of onsite hazards, and ensure that your cold weather safety tips for employees are followed.
Want to try ClockShark for your business? Try our free trial.
We hope your team stays safe and warm this winter!
Frequently Asked Questions About Cold Weather Safety Tips
What are the OSHA Tips for Cold Weather?
The OSHA tips are similar to what we’ve covered here.
They include:
- Knowing and watching for symptoms of cold stress
- Dressing appropriately for cold conditions
- Monitoring the physical condition of self and co-workers
- Staying dry and packing extra clothes
- Taking plenty of warm breaks
- Drinking warm liquids
How Do You Deal with Accidents and Cold Stress Injuries?
Cold stress injuries can be severe, so first determine the nature and severity of the injury. This will determine your business response and required steps. Refer to trained first aiders for minor accidents and cold stress injuries and create an incident report. Make sure to follow up and resolve the hazard.
For moderate to severe accidents and cold stress injuries, the worker will likely need to go to the hospital for targeted treatment to prevent lasting damage or death (in the worst cases).
Should Employers Prepare an Emergency Response Plan for Cold Weather Incidents?
Absolutely. Cold weather incidents can vary from minor to severe, so it’s important to have a response plan that includes the following points:
- Threat/Risk Assessment: Identify risks and possible emergency situations.
- Contacts: Provide contact numbers for emergency personnel, managers/supervisors and collect the contact information of all employees to ensure everyone is accounted for.
- Roles: Determine first aiders, supervisors, and safety staff. Ensure someone is responsible for carrying out the emergency plan and advising/assisting crew members.
- Supplies: Provide adequate emergency supplies, such as spare blankets, food, water, a heat source, and communication devices, in case workers are snowed in. Provide copies of the emergency plan and cold weather safety tips for employees to refer to and follow.
- Evacuation: Create an evacuation and contingency plan in case workers cannot leave. (This is especially important for severe snowstorms.)
- Communication: Make sure your business has a process for notifying all employees of an emergency situation and a backup plan.
- Follow-up: Establish a reporting process to document the incident and the response of the management, safety personnel, and team.
How Can Equipment Be Kept Functional in Extreme Cold Weather Conditions?
Cold stress doesn’t just affect crew; it can affect structures, materials, and equipment. Protect equipment with a few cold weather safety tips.
- Warm-up: Make sure the crew doesn’t jump in and go, but allow the equipment time to warm up. The chemicals and pipes are affected by the cold, and it’s better to start slowly to let the machinery cycle rather than risk damage.
- Batteries: Protect batteries from freezing with battery blankets and keep spare batteries out of the elements.
- Coolant: Coolant levels should be adjusted for winter, and coolants will have recommendations for winter ratios.
- Filters: Switching out filters before winter reduces the risk of failure.
- Non-resistant equipment: If specific machinery or equipment cannot withstand cold temperatures, the only option during extreme cold is to store it to prevent failure/breakdown.
- Winter training: Lastly, training the crew on the procedures of using equipment in winter and the added risks is essential.
