COMPANYNAME SOLAS TRAINING MANUAL PART A – Section 3 Exposure Hazards, Clothing, Protection & Survival
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As you see, wearing a life jacket is not only a question of avoiding drowning, but also a question of surviving for a prolonged period. An extra help to reduce cooling can be achieved by pressing the lifejacket against the breast, keep the arms close to your body, bend the thighs up against the life jacket and keep your legs together (fig.1).
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With several people the same effect can be achieved by huddling as shown on figure 2. Besides this position, also renders psychical support. The aim of both procedures is to protect those parts of the body which are most vulnerable to cooling – the breast, the neck, the back of the head and the groin.
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It is an old and very common understanding that alcohol gives heat. This is completely wrong. Alcohol enlarges the blood vessels of the skin and gives you a false feeling of heat. It is true that the skin becomes warmer, but the heat is taken from the internal organs like the brain and the heart. Exactly the same thing will happen if you give massage to a cold-water survivor. The blood of the skin is put into circulation, but the heat is taken from the internal parts of the body, resulting in a dangerous cooling of the internal organs. Treatment of a cold-water survivor must first of all aim at preventing further loss of heat. The wet clothes should be removed and replaced by dry clothes. If this is not possible, the free water of the clothes must be wrought out. Now heat should be conveyed from the outside to the body in order to raise the temperature. This is the biggest problem in the treatment of cold-water survivors. When the skin is warmed the blood vessels will be enlarged and the same thing will happen as if you were drinking alcohol. The heat from the body is led to the surface while the blood cooled at the skin is led to the internal organs. Re-warming of a survivor can take place in various ways. You should distinguish between three different principles of re-warming:
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