Dot Foods frozen warehouse is cold all year long
Posted: 01.05.2010 at 6:33 PM
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Step outside, and you can see your breath immediately.

Give it a few minutes, and your ears start to hurt and your fingers begin to go numb.

That's when you know it's time to go inside.

But what if you couldn't get out of the cold?

The numbers don't lie. Eleven degrees is cold.

And it can even be cold inside. I'm at the freezer warehouse at Dot Foods in Mount Sterling. Here on the dock it's about 40 degrees...pretty cool, but behind this door, it's usually about five degrees below zero.

And that temperature fluxuates. On this particular day, it was about ten below. This warehouse is like this 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"All of our product in this building is frozen," says Greg Jones, the Frozen Warehouse Supervisor.

And so are most of the 200 employees who work here.

"As long as you keep moving, your feet will stay warm and you are good to go," says Jon Moore, who works in the warehouse.

Employees here don't spend their entire shift in the freezer. They stay as long as they can handle it, up to two hours. The rest of the work day is spent on the 40 degree docks.

"If you stay busy out here, you'll maintain some body heat. Dot provides us with uniforms. Believe it or not, there are guys who can break a sweat out here," says Jones.

"I have a basic coat and bib overalls that Dot gives us," says Seth Vermillion.

"They give you a stocking cap and a dickey to cover up your face," says Jon Moore.

"In this time of year, I'll wear a sweatshirt, a long john shirt, and a t-shirt," says Vermillion.

That's all under the heavy duty coat, gloves, and pants. While it is very cold in this warehouse, most of the workers agree it's still better than working outside.

"We don't have the humidity inside. There's no windchill factor. It's just a different cold," says Jones.

Different, maybe, but still very, very cold.

By the way, the employees in the frozen warehouse do make a little extra money than other warehouse workers because of the hazardous condition.