The purpose of this guide is to examine the hazards of cold exposure that may endanger your life, and to provide you with advice on how to prevent or minimize those dangers.
A thorough understanding of the information contained in this booklet may some day save your life.

The Maritime Safety Committee, at its eighty-first session (10 to 19 May 2006), with a view to providing enhanced guidance for passenger ships operating in cold water areas, approved the Guide to cold water survival, prepared by the Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications and Search and Rescue, at its tenth session (6 to 10 March 2006), as set out in the annex.

1.2 The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 provided a dramatic example of the effects of cold
water immersion. Partially due to a lack of preparedness with protective clothing, of adequate
flotation equipment, and of knowledge of survival procedures, none of the 1,489 persons immersed
in the 0°C water was obviously alive when rescue vessels arrived one hour and 50 minutes after
the sinking.

1.3 Countless lives could have been saved had the survivors and the rescuers known more of
how to cope with cold water: almost all of the people in the lifeboats were alive.
1.4 During the Second World War the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom alone lost
about 45,000 men at sea, of whom it is estimated 30,000 died from drowning and hypothermia.
Many of those who drowned did so because of incapacitation due to cold. Even today the pattern
is similar.

1.5 It is important to realize that you are not helpless to effect your own survival in cold
water. Body heat loss is a gradual process, and research shows that in calm water at 5°C a
normally dressed person has a 50% chance of surviving three hours. Simple self-help techniques
can extend this time, particularly if the person is wearing a lifejacket. You can make the
difference; this guide is intended to show you how.

2 Your body
2.1 An understanding of how your body reacts to cold air or water exposure, and knowing the
steps you can take to help your body delay the damaging effects of cold stress, will help you in
your struggle to stay alive in the event of cold water exposure.
2.2 Imagine your body to consist of an inner core and an outer layer. Your body produces a
great deal of heat as a result of normal body functions, such as physical exercise and digesting
your food.

2.3 Nature requires that your body core be kept to an ideal temperature of 37°C. A network
of blood vessels running through the core and the outer layer of your body picks up the heat
produced, and distributes it throughout the body. Nature also gives your body a very accurate
system to regulate automatically the core temperature at 37°C. For example, if the temperature
around you is high, as on a warm day or in a hot boiler room, the blood vessels near the skin of
your body will enlarge, allowing more blood to flow to the outer layer and increase body heat
loss. This will keep you comfortable and keep the core temperature from rising. If the
surroundings are cool, your body will narrow the blood vessels in the outer layer and keep that
valuable body heat from being lost too rapidly.

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Infomarine On-Line Technical Library

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