36 Hypo thermia W hen heat loss e x ceeds heat pr oduction within the body h ypo thermia ma y de v elop Hypo thermia is one of the leading causes of death t o people in the outdoor s it can de v elop q uickly and it can be f atal Hypo thermia is defned as the cooling of the int ernal body core t em perature belo w 35C 95F Belo w this t em perature int ernal organs including the brain do no t function ef f ectiv ely Mild h ypo thermia is classifed as ha ving a core body t em perature abo v e 32C 90F and se v ere h ypo thermia occur s belo w 32C 90F The major dif f erence be tw een the onse t of h ypo thermia on land and in w at er is one of time scale Hypo thermia in w at er de v elops at an accelerat ed rat e because w at er conducts heat a w a y fr om the body 25 times f ast er than air at the same t em perature Af t er the onse t of sym pt oms death can occur within one t o tw o hour s unless adeq uat e measures are tak en Man o v erboar d accidents account f or the majority of h ypo thermia relat ed deaths in w at er The most common causes of h ypo thermia on land are due t o w e t cold and windy w eather combined with har d ph ysical e x er tion and inadeq uat e clo thing T em peratures need no t be especially cold f or h ypo thermia t o de v elop it freq uently se ts in at t em peratures be tw een 1C and 1 0C 30F and 50F The use of drugs or alcohol increases the onse t and risk of f atality fr om h ypo thermia All in jur ie s r equir in g fr s t aid andor medic al a t tent ion no ma t ter ho w t r i v ial t he in jur y mi g ht appe ar should be r epor ted to t he W or k er s C om pens a t ion Boar d