Occupational Health & Safety: Winter is coming. For employers, this, of course, means colder temperatures and more slippery surfaces facing their workers. However, the safety hazards are much more dynamic than that. These new conditions can create complexities and challenges that put the worker at higher risk of injury and worse.
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This passage highlights the importance of preparing for winter workplace hazards to ensure employee safety. I learned that winter presents various risks, such as road accidents, cold stress, slips, and equipment malfunctions. What stood out to me was the speed at which frostbite can occur—within ten minutes—and the often-overlooked risk of dehydration in cold weather. Employers are advised to take proactive measures, including updating safety policies, providing specialized PPE, and offering training on winter-related hazards. Meanwhile, employees are encouraged to look out for coworkers, stay dry, properly use PPE, and maintain hydration.Reading this made me reflect on how environmental factors intersect with occupational health and safety, a concept that ties into fields like ergonomics and risk management. I realized that winter safety isn’t just about preventing falls but also about maintaining physical and mental well-being under extreme conditions.
This being my first winter in an area that gets colder that gets 50 degrees, I read this article so that I would know what to watch out for. What I found the most surprising was that smartphone batteries can get damaged by cold temperatures. I knew that phones can overheat if left in the sun for too long, but I had no idea that cold temperatures could affect them. I need to do more research on what can happen to phones when it is cold. I found the “What Employees Can Do” section in this article the most helpful because I am unsure what action to take in order to combat hazards from the cold, aside from wearing warm layers. For example, it is good to know that I need to stay dry, I did not know that being even a little wet could impact clothes’ ability to retain heat.
I come from New Jersey, where the winter can get really cold, but here in good ol’ Pittsburgh, it gets even colder. I did not think that cold stress or hypothermia would be any concern, but apparently it is. It gets so, so cold that we are at risk of hypothermia if we do not wear the proper personal protective equipment or layer up properly. Other than that, I expect the roads to be icy and the ground to be slippery. I expect there to be malfunctioning technology and car accidents, but I really hope they are minor because driving on icy roads is super scary. I hope that it is a pretty winter, with minimal black ice and temperatures that are not unbearably cold. Pittsburgh temperatures can apparently reach below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, so we are in for a cold and miserable winter if this is true. Stay warm out there.
I think this article was a useful read—not necessarily for context within the CMU drama world, but once you move on to projects where you may be fighting the elements harder for longer. At the school of drama here there are only a few times where the winter poses mild dangers; driving the box truck in icy snowy conditions, moving big loads of lumber orders to the scene shop up and the hill, and working on the loading dock. I remember striking Passage and being in the dumpster while it was snowing trying to rearrange the scenery so it would all fit. I also remember my first scenic call at CMU was in the winter and it was snowing/sludge raining and we were pressur washing these long steel tubes so they could be welded and I was not wearing the right clothes expecting this as a task and froze my *ss off.
For winter hazards I thought I knew what the article was about to say but a quite a few points I was surprised at, they make a lot of sense and should have been common sense, but aren't stressed as much as the normal slips and falls on ice. I hadn't realized that only a brief exposure of -22 degrees fahrenheit could damage batteries and other equipment, which makes me even more impressed than I already was for anything that can function in antarctica where it gets over twice as cold. One piece of advice that was stated for employees that I was glad to see was to keep hydrated and drink more than one would expect. Now I wasn't working in cold weather at all, but I did marching band which spawned from the 102 degree summer outdoors to 65 degree nights later in the fall, when we practiced I noticed we got more water breaks in the heart and less in the later season, presumably because it was assumed we didn't need as much water. When I got home I definitely noticed how much more dehydrated I was in the fall even though there was next to no sweat, so it's good to hear that people are saying to drink water even if it may not be as apparent that a similar amount of water in needed in both summer and winter.
I have worked a few jobs that required being outside in the winter and I can say that after not coming prepared the first time for the cold weather, I made sure that never happened again. I hadn't thought about how quickly my hands would get cold, and that just ruined the rest of the night because my hands never seemed to get warm again and it greatly impacted my fine motor skills which is pretty essential in our line of work. Later in life, I had a job in Canada where we were loading out of a mall at night in February. I made sure that I brought enough cold weather gear to make sure that I wasn't impacted by the weather and it worked wonders. Cold weather can be so dangerous for workers if they don't prepare well, and it impacts not only them but everyone on the jobsite if they can't keep performing at 100%.
In fact, I think in the theatre industry, it is also very important to pay attention to the impact of weather on production. There will be a weather record in some stage managers' rehearsal reports and performance reports. This may explain some of the problems that arise, such as why someone in the company is late or even injured. Winter weather conditions can create new challenges for production teams, especially when working outdoors or on specific sites. Slippery stages, icy sidewalks and freezing temperatures can put cast members, performers, and crew in danger, so it's crucial to plan to deal with these dangers. Loading and loading can involve heavy equipment, and icy surfaces can cause slips, falls, and serious injuries. Cold can also affect people and equipment. Crews need to stay warm and avoid the cold, and technical equipment such as lighting, sound systems and communications equipment can fail in extreme temperatures. To create a winter safety plan, it's important to address not only physical hazards, such as icy surfaces and cold weather, but also operational aspects, such as making sure equipment can handle bad weather and scheduling extra time to set up.
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