AGRICULTURAL SAFETY TOPICS – COLd WEAThER ExPOSURE
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130-011-09-IADO © 2014, Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS)
1 877 494 WSPS (9777) | 905 614 1400 | www.wsps.ca
Include a thermometer and chemical hot packs in your first aid kit.
When working, avoid touching cold metal surfaces with bare skin.
Cold Weather Injuries
Frostnip is the freezing of the top layers of skin tissue and is normally reversible. It mostly affects the
cheeks, earlobes, fingers, and toes.
Symptoms include:
Numbness.
Top layer of skin feeling hard and rubbery, but deeper tissue is soft.
Skin becomes white and waxy.
Treatment:
Rewarm the area gently, generally by blowing warm air on it or placing the area against a warm
body part.
The area should not be rubbed as it can damage the effected tissue.
Frostbite is the actual freezing of the tissue and/or body part. Ice crystals form inside the skin that can
destroy the tissues, and you could lose skin or part of a finger, toe, or foot, for example. It affects the ears,
nose, fingers and toes most often. Superficial frostbite includes all layers of skin, and deep frostbite can
include freezing of muscle and/or bone.
Symptoms include:
Skin that is white and has a "wooden" feel all the way through.
Numbness, possible anesthesia.
Treatment:
Move the person to a warm area. Put affected body parts in warm water (105ºF - 110ºF)(40.5 ºC – 43ºC)
until skin becomes flushed. No hotter or additional damage will result.
After warming, the injured area should be wrapped in sterile gauze, keeping affected fingers and
toes separated.
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