Emergency Cards EN-GB

United Kingdom

Hypothermia

Reviewed

Use at your own risk. For education and research only, not medical advice. Check the numbers and rules for the country you are in. They change. Before you rely on these cards, have a medical professional or a fire safety specialist review them. Disclaimer

Do this first

Get the person out of the cold and wind, off the cold ground and out of wet clothes. Put them in dry layers, with the head covered.

Hypothermia starts long before ice and snow. Wet clothes, wind and exhaustion can chill a body at ten degrees above zero. The brain suffers first. Judgement fades as the core cools, so the person rarely knows they are in trouble.

Step by step

  1. Move the person somewhere dry and out of the wind, and put insulation between them and the ground. Cold ground steals heat faster than cold air.
  2. Take off wet clothing, cut it off if needed, and wrap them in dry layers, blankets or a foil blanket, with head and neck covered.
  3. Call 999 for anyone who has stopped shivering or is confused, clumsy or drowsy. That is moderate hypothermia and it does not fix itself.
  4. Give warm sweet drinks only if they are fully awake and can swallow. Give no alcohol, because it opens the blood vessels in the skin and drains heat from the core.
  5. Warm the trunk first: chest, back, armpits and groin. Use warm packs wrapped in cloth, body-to-body contact under blankets and a warm room.
  6. Handle a badly chilled person gently and keep them lying flat. Rough movement can trigger a fatal heart rhythm in a cold heart.
  7. If they become unresponsive, check breathing for up to a minute, because it can be very slow. Start CPR only if there is none, and keep going. Cold bodies survive long resuscitations.

Never do this

  • Never give alcohol, and never rub or massage the limbs. Both push cold blood from the outer layer into the core and can stop the heart.
  • Never put a badly chilled person into a hot bath or against direct heat. Rewarming must be gentle and from the middle outwards.
  • Never declare a cold person dead. Nobody is dead until they are warm and dead, and that decision belongs to a hospital.

Call emergency services if

  • Shivering has stopped, or the person is confused, stumbling, slurring or unusually sleepy.
  • Any hypothermia in a child, an older person, or anyone who is injured, drunk or found outdoors.
  • The person is rigid, barely breathing or unresponsive. Start care and keep the line open.

Common questions

Shivering stopped. Is that an improvement?

No. Shivering is the body's heater, and it shuts down when fuel runs out or the core cools further. A cold person who stops shivering and goes quiet is getting worse.

What about frostbitten fingers or toes?

Warm the whole person first. Thaw frozen parts in water at around 37 to 39 degrees for half an hour. Never use a fire or rubbing, and do not thaw them if they could freeze again before the person reaches care. Refreezing destroys the tissue.

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Sources and standards

Use at your own risk. For education and research only, not medical advice. Check the numbers and rules for the country you are in. They change. Before you rely on these cards, have a medical professional or a fire safety specialist review them.