It\u2019s been another great week here at Warehouse and Operations as a Career, I hope everyone\u2019s had a safe and prosperous one as well? I\u2019m Marty, I\u2019ve been out on the road the last two weeks so I\u2019m grooving on getting caught up and settled in myself. It\u2019s cold here in Texas, it seems a little early for us to be seeing these temperatures here. All week I\u2019ve been getting comments about the snow showing up early in Illinois and Denver, I just heard Pennsylvania has seen some of the nasty stuff this week too. I say nasty not because it\u2019s not beautiful and it does help kill a lot of those pesky flying critters, but it can make for some treacherous driving situations and plays havoc on our industry\u2019s routing and delivery schedules! Doe\u2019s any of your facilities do any kind of cold stress training or talk about the need to take care of our muscles this time of year? Joe did a really good presentation just about this time last year and I believe he\u2019s already got one scheduled for next month to broadcast to his group of Sup\u2019s and Managers. Maybe that could be the first thing we could put up on our You Tube Channel, let me see what he thinks about it! When I think about Cold Stress I always remember my start up meetings as a selector. We\u2019d do some short exercises to warm up our muscles, maybe some arm and leg stretches, something simple like that. Most of us would do them again after breaks and lunches, I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s really any medical benefits but it did make me feel better and I never had any muscle problems at all in the winter. OSHA has a pretty good page on Cold Stress, I\u2019ll add it in todays show notes, https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/emergencypreparedness/guides/cold.html I think you\u2019ll find it really informative. Most Cold Stress meetings I\u2019ve attended brings up the safety aspect, things like:
\nHow contributing factors can include Diabetes and Hypertension, being out of shape or in poor physical health. You know the wetness and dampness and not dressing properly can be a serious issue and really contribute to our bodies suffering from cold stress.
\nCold Stress as stated by https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/cold+stress occurs at temperature less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) varying with chill factor, wetness, protection from wind.
\nEverything I found on the internet kept referring me to the word Hyperthermia, so I checked that out on Wikipedia.org, there I found all the cautions I\u2019d been taught before! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothermia . Your management team should be teaching you the signs and preventions, but it never hurts to do a little self-education on our own Safety needs right. A few of the mild symptoms to be aware of could be shivering, maybe our heart rate increasing, maybe a faster respiratory rate and even some mental confusion. A moderate level of hyperthermia can increase our mental confusion, muscle miss-coordination will become apparent to us too. We could notice our ears, lips, fingers and toes turning a bit blue as our blood vessels constrict to keep our internal organs warm.
\nAnd severe hyperthermia can present with sluggish thinking, slurred speech and even amnesia. It\u2019s important we remember to stay hydrated in the winter and that alcohol can actually add to our loss of body heat.
\nI worked in a Freezer for about 6 years, I was always dressed properly with my freezer gear, but I did see a few order selectors and lift drivers deal with mild cases of cold stress. Again, it\u2019s really all about doing what we\u2019ve been taught and using a little common sense. If your supervisor hasn\u2019t brought up anything about winter safety yet hit them up with your knowledge of cold stress and hyperthermia, a great safety topic to get you noticed! A few other things you could mention is to be cautious with any outside stairs and hand rails, I hate those metal steps coming in from the transportation yard.