City crews brave the cold outdoors

While many this week are watching the cold from the other side of their living room windows or have to feel it sprinting to and from their vehicles, there are some who are out in the cold all day for work.

Those people including City of Regina workers in Park Maintenance and Cemeteries, a department of which Ray Morgan is the manager.

Normally at this time of year, his crews would be cleaning out park pathways, flooding and maintaining outdoor rinks and emptying garbages. While the crews are still doing those things, Morgan said it takes a bit longer in this cold.

“Our staff are still out doing those duties, it’s just they’re going to have to come inside and get some warmup breaks in the vehicles or in a warmup shack,” said Morgan.

According to the city’s policies, the workers have to come inside at certain times.

“As long as they’re wearing layered clothing and the right footwear and headgear and they’re well protected, the maximum time they should be out in these conditions would be about 50 minutes – then they should come in for a break to warm up,” said Morgan.

He explained a lot of it is adapting to the conditions.

“It’s dressing smart, it’s knowing the wind chills and the weather, and just knowing what needs to get done as the priorities,” said Morgan.

The key is to stay moving, according to Morgan.

Even in this weather, Morgan said people still want to use the pathways and use the outdoor rinks, so his crews need to get their work done.

“We’re making sure people can get out and enjoy those winter conditions,” said Morgan.

There are conditions that could keep the crews indoors, though. Morgan said if temperatures drop down to -30 C or lower and the wind chill hits -50 C or lower, then they have to weigh how important the work is versus the weather.

“We always have other work that we can be doing inside the shops, so there’s always alternative duties for staff to do when we get weather extremes,” said Morgan.