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STEELTOETOOLS
Free course · Beginner · 3 h 58 min · v1.0

Heat & Cold Stress Prevention

Heat index, WBGT, acclimatization, wind chill and frostbite — what the published sources actually say, free and self-paced

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This course is step 4 of 4 in the Excavation Crew — Learning Path, which puts the free courses on this site in a reading order.
Not OSHA-authorized training. This free course is a study aid. It does not satisfy any OSHA or regulatory training requirement and no certificate or card is issued. Your employer's training program comes first.

Heat is the deadliest weather hazard American workers face, and it kills newcomers first: OSHA reports that over 70 percent of heat-related deaths happen during a worker's first week on the job. Cold takes fewer people but takes them quietly, and it starts warmer than anyone expects — trench foot at 60 °F, hypothermia above 40 °F on someone who is wet. Neither hazard has a final federal standard today, which means the numbers your crew works to come from your employer's plan, not from a rule. This free, self-paced course teaches the physics first, then the two heat metrics and what each one hides, then cold and the frostbite clock, then recognition, first aid and the written plan. Every figure is traced to the OSHA, NIOSH, NWS or EPA document it comes from — including the clothing adjustment factors and the WBGT limits by workload that OSHA publishes. Where the only figures in circulation are copyrighted, such as work/rest cycles in minutes per hour and the cold work/warm-up schedule, the course says so instead of inventing a number.

What you will be able to do

  • Explain how a body gains and loses heat, and which conditions shut each pathway down
  • Apply the published acclimatization schedules to a new worker and to one returning from time away
  • Say what the heat index describes, what WBGT adds, and when each one is the right number
  • Size drinking water for a crew and name the published upper limits on intake
  • Read wind chill and the NWS frostbite bands, and explain why frostbite needs air below freezing
  • Tell heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke apart, and act correctly on each
  • Recognize hypothermia, frostbite, trench foot and chilblains, and avoid the rewarming mistakes
  • Build a written heat or cold plan that names the metric, the triggers, the controls and the emergency steps

Course outline

Part 1

How the body gains and loses heat

The five heat pathways and what shuts each one down, the risk factors that decide who goes down first, acclimatization and the first-week problem, and the same physics running backwards in the cold.

  1. 1.1 Heat in, heat out: the five pathways13 min
  2. 1.2 Why one worker goes down and another does not12 min
  3. 1.3 Acclimatization and the first week13 min
  4. 1.4 The cold side of the same physics12 min
  5. Part 1 quiz5 questions
Part 2

Heat: measuring it and controlling it

What the heat index describes and what it hides, how WBGT is measured and averaged, water, rest and shade in numbers, and the controls that actually lower exposure.

  1. 2.1 The heat index: what it says and what it hides13 min
  2. 2.2 WBGT: measuring the heat the crew is in13 min
  3. 2.3 Water, rest and shade, in numbers13 min
  4. 2.4 Lowering the heat: controls, clothing and sun14 min
  5. Part 2 quiz5 questions
Part 3

Cold: measuring it and controlling it

Wind chill and the NWS frostbite bands, the four cold injuries and where each one starts, layering and warm-up breaks, and the winter jobsite around the crew.

  1. 3.1 Wind chill and the frostbite clock13 min
  2. 3.2 Hypothermia, frostbite, trench foot, chilblains14 min
  3. 3.3 Three layers, dry clothes and warm-up breaks13 min
  4. 3.4 The winter jobsite: ice underfoot, snow overhead12 min
  5. Part 3 quiz5 questions
Part 4

Recognize, respond and write it down

Heat emergencies in the first five minutes, cold first aid and the rewarming mistakes, how crews watch each other, and the written plan an inspector will ask for.

  1. 4.1 Heat emergencies: the first five minutes13 min
  2. 4.2 Cold first aid, and what not to do12 min
  3. 4.3 Watching each other, and making the call12 min
  4. 4.4 The written plan, the training and the records14 min
  5. Part 4 quiz5 questions
Final exam
20 questions · about 20 minutes
Go to the exam

Who it's for: Outdoor and indoor crews working in heat or cold — construction, landscaping, roofing, utilities, agriculture, foundries, warehouses, snow and ice crews — plus foremen, crew leads and anyone writing a heat or cold plan.

Frequently asked questions

No. No card, certificate or credential is issued here and nothing is downloadable at the end. This is free self-paced learning you can use before or after the training your employer provides.

No. SteelToeTools is not affiliated with, endorsed by or authorized by OSHA or the U.S. Department of Labor. Every requirement in this course is quoted from the public document it comes from, with a link so you can read it yourself.

Not as of the date on this page. OSHA published a proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention rule on August 30, 2024; the informal hearing closed July 2, 2025 and post-hearing comments closed October 30, 2025. Until a final rule exists, heat is cited under the General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1). Several State Plans have their own heat rules — OSHA lists California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington — and this course flags proposed federal requirements as proposed.

No. OSHA's Cold Stress Guide states that OSHA does not have a specific standard covering work in cold environments, so cold hazards fall under the General Duty Clause. Some specific standards still apply to winter work — for example 1910.22(a)(3) on snow and ice on walking-working surfaces.

Yes, the ones OSHA publishes. Chapter 2.2 gives the clothing adjustment factors and the effective WBGT limits by workload for unacclimatized and acclimatized workers, taken from OSHA's heat hazard recognition page, adapted from NIOSH guidelines (2016). What it does not give is a work/rest cycle in minutes per hour: that comes from ACGIH threshold limit value documentation, which OSHA's own Technical Manual describes as copyrighted and not publicly available. The same applies to the cold work/warm-up schedule in circulation, which is ACGIH material of Saskatchewan origin.

About 3 hours 58 minutes: sixteen chapters of 12 to 14 minutes, four 5-question part quizzes and a 20-question final exam. Your progress is stored in your own browser, so you can stop and come back.

No. Your employer knows your work areas, your equipment, your clothing and your emergency response, and much of the training has to happen there. Use this course to prepare, to review and to check what you were told against the published sources.

Sources & references

Content checked against these sources — last reviewed August 28, 2026.

Not OSHA-authorized training. SteelToeTools is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized by OSHA or the U.S. Department of Labor. This free educational content does not satisfy any OSHA or other regulatory training requirement, and no card, certificate, or credential is issued. Only OSHA-authorized trainers can deliver OSHA Outreach Training (10-Hour and 30-Hour) and issue DOL cards. Always follow your employer's training program and applicable federal, state, and local requirements.

By — Editorial team of SteelToeTools.com (published by LSEA SAS) Updated v1.0