ABSTRACT
Heat, cold and electricity are examples of some the physical agents that can cause non-kinetic injuries to the body. Cold injury has both clinical and forensic aspects; death from hypothermia occurs even in temperate climates in winter. In cold seas and oceans, and lakes in high latitudes, death from immersion may occur within a few minutes from sheer heat loss and before true drowning can occur. If a body gets cold, the normal response is to warm up by becoming more active, putting on more clothing layers or moving indoors. Cold injury to the extremities may be severe enough to cause frostbite, which reflects tissue injury that varies in severity from erythema to infarction and necrosis following microvascular injury and thrombosis. If exposure to the cold continues, other physiological processes will attempt to prevent any further heat loss. Health and safety legislation may require that an electrical death should be fully reviewed to prevent further electrical exposure.
