Working in cold temperatures
Many businesses run into situations where their employees will be working in cold temperatures and wish to ensure their employee's health and safety. The Alberta Government through WorkSafe provides a guide to best practices on working in cold and hot temperatures.
It is quite long and very informative - on page 32 in Table 7, the Alberta regulations are outlined as below:
Alberta
(Occupational Health and Safety Act, Occupational Health and Safety Code)
While there are no specific requirements related to working in
the heat or cold, the Act requires employers to ensure the
health and safety of workers at their work sites. Part 2 of the
Code requires employers to assess and control hazards
workers may be exposed to at the work site.
However, that puts the responsibility on the business owner to determine the hazard and work it out for themselves. In the booklet, there is a reference to a chart from Saskatchewan as a sample guideline with the following introduction:
Cold Exposure Guidelines
The ACGIH has adopted guidelines developed by Saskatchewan Labour for working
outdoors in cold weather conditions (Table 13). The recommended exposure times are based on the wind chill factor and assume workers are wearing dry clothing. The workbreak schedule applies to any 4-hour period with moderate or heavy activity. The warmup break periods are 10-minutes long in a warm location. The schedule assumes that "normal breaks" are taken once every two hours. At the end of a 4-hour period, an extended break (e.g. lunch break) in a warm location is recommended. More information is available in the ACGIH publications "2009 TLVs® and BEIs®" and on the Saskatchewan Labour web page "Cold Conditions Guidelines for Outside Workers"
Tips to help your employees stay safe when working in cold weather:
- Organize employees on the buddy system, checking each other for signs of frostbite or hypothermia.
- Have hot soup available in a breakroom in a slow cooker to support employees and reduce the risks of hypothermia.
- Have your employees take more breaks in a warm place, (it is much less time consuming and upsetting than medical attention and worker's compensation forms!)
- Train your employees on signs of the health effect of cold weather & ensure they know the first aid treatments from pages 19 and 20 in the guide to best practices on working in cold and hot temperatures.
For all our members: if you wish to discuss this further or have questions, please contact msalb@cfib.ca or call 888-234-2232 to reach your Business Counsellor.
