Assessment of cold stress

Cold stress may be present in terms of a risk for skin surface cooling (wind chill), extremity cooling and whole body cooling. Measures of cold stress differ for the various situations. The most common approach, however, has been to apply more or less complex formulas for heat balance calculations. The combined effect of several climatic factors (air temperature, mean radiant temperature, humidity and air velocity) and the activity level determines the cooling power of the environment. The cooling power can be easily converted into a required insulation value, that applies both to parts of the body and to the body as a whole. The value provides information about cold stress in two ways; (a) by specifying necessary behavioural adjustments in terms of required activity level and clothing insulation level, and (b) by quantifying the thermal imbalance and tolerance time, when protection worn does not provide sufficient insulation.