For my grandma, being dressed properly for the cold meant layers. Lots and lots of thick layers. If you didn’t look like Ralphie’s younger brother in A Christmas Story, enveloped in so much material that you could barely move your limbs, you weren’t going to be warm enough.
When I’d visit her home in Green Bay, Wisconsin, before going to a late-season Packers game at Lambeau Field, she’d often be appalled at my attire. I’d try to explain to her the magic of modern technical fibers. That warm layers didn’t necessarily mean thick layers. I don’t think it ever fully registered.
It’s January, and that means some of you are currently working in frigid temperatures. The Safety First article in this issue is all about working safely in the extreme cold. Leigh Stadelmeier of RefrigiWear, a manufacturer of cold-weather workwear and personal protective equipment, provides an array of tips about how to handle the risks of working in the cold and how to dress properly for it.
Here’s one tip that stuck out to me and made me think of my grandma: While it’s important to wear enough layers to keep warm, remember that overdressing can be just as dangerous as underdressing. Wearing gear that is too warm causes excessive sweating, putting workers at higher risk for cold stress and hypothermia.
How can it be possible to have too many layers? That thinking would seem backward to my grandma. But a body in motion can be an incredible furnace.
I used to hit the Wisconsin snowshoe race circuit pretty hard. I remember one particularly nasty winter when it seemed like every weekend I did a race that clocked in at minus 10 windchill at least. The worst part about those races was the wait at the starting line — freezing and counting down the seconds till you could get moving and start generating some body heat.
Once the race got going, I would be perfectly comfortable for the duration of it. My go-to ensemble included a tech fabric base layer with a reflective interior that redirected my body heat back onto me. Over that were another one or two tech fabric layers — dependent on whether it was merely zero degrees or minus 20. I’d wear fleece-lined running pants and merino wool socks. My hat was never fancy. Just a simple winter beanie. I had a range of gloves — very thin all the way to a pair that insulated extremely well for the coldest of days. From an outside perspective, it probably looked like I was a little underdressed for temps as low as minus 20. There wasn’t a lot of bulk to my racing outfit. But I knew it was perfect for that particular activity — I would be warm enough but not too warm. If I was going to be doing something less strenuous and generating less body heat though, I had to make some modifications.
So if you’re one of the lucky ones who has to battle a cold climate this time of year, think about your particular circumstances and what exactly you need to keep working safely and productively.
Enjoy this month’s issue.
