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Environmental and Workplace Health

Description of the figure showing the relationship between water temperatures and the associated expected time of survival

The graph shows increasing water temperature in degrees Celsius on the x-axis and increasing time in hours on the y-axis. The graph has two J-shaped curves: a lower curve starting at the bottom left corner, curving upward and ending at the top right corner, and an upper curve starting at the bottom left corner, curving upwards and ending along the top axis, approximately two-thirds of the way across to the corner. These curves divide the graph area into three sections. These sections represent where the time-temperature combinations are expected to be 'Safe" (the bottom section - half an hour or less at below zero up to 6 hrs at 20 degrees Celsius); "Fatal" (the top section - half an hour or more at below zero up to 6 hrs at 12 degrees Celsius) and "Marginal" (the middle section - half an hour to an hour at 0 degrees Celsius up to 6 hrs at 12 to 20 degrees Celsius). The lower curve also reflects where a person would be conscious while the upper curve reflects where a person would be unconscious.