Individuals are not perfect and often make mistakes. We take shortcuts, neglect find out how to do things, or develop into distracted at instances after we shouldn’t. In most points of our lives, these will not be things that have dire consequences. At work, nonetheless, surrounded by hazards, these types of mistakes can alter lives, even end them. So, though human beings should not perfect, we need to make our safety programs as close to excellent as we can.
PPE Focus: Face Shields
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an aspect of safety where folks are likely to make many mistakes, and for a wide range of reasons. Typically, we think that the mere wearing of PPE makes us proof against injury. With as much emphasis as we place on eye protection and head protection, will we lose sight (no pun supposed) of protecting our faces? Certainly, eye protection is essential, since eye accidents can lead to everlasting blindness. Equally essential is head protection, stopping deadly head injuries the most effective that we can. Face injuries could not appear as significant a priority. They do not have the immediate, permanent, and potentially fatal consequences of the others. With that said, though, an employer’s responsibility is to protect all parts of their employees, together with their faces.
That duty includes figuring out tasks the place face shields must be used, providing face shields for workers to make use of, training them to use face shields accurately, and to correct workers when face shields are used incorrectly or not used at all. The first parts are easy. Our employees will make mistakes. Correcting those mistakes and enforcing your organization’s face shield necessities is an essential part of an efficient PPE program. Unfortunately, too often, this facet of the PPE program is just not enforced until after an worker is injured.
Situations to Use Face Shields
Consider the following situations the place face shields ought to have been used, and the consequences for the injured workers and their employers.
An worker was filling ammonia nurse tanks from a bulk plant. The employee was distracted while closing the valves, and mistakenly turned the mistaken valve, causing a pressure release within the line. The discharge of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the employee’s face. The worker was hospitalized for chemical burns on and around the face.
An employee was installing a water pipe at a multifamily residential development project. The employee initially was operating an excavator, then climbed down from the excavator to cut a 10-inch water pipe with a lower-off saw. The noticed kicked back and struck the employee’s face. Co-workers called emergency providers, who transported the employee to the hospital. The employee was admitted to the hospital and handled for facial lacerations that extended from underneath the left eye to underneath the jaw.
Within the first situation, the worker suffered severe chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical publicity, the extent of the chemical burns, and presumably may have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the employee’s face. Yes, the worker turned the wrong valve, but does that imply that the employer is absolved of all responsibility for this incident? Of course not. The fact stays that the employer ought to provide staff filling ammonia nurse tanks with face shields, train staff to make use of the face shields correctly, and require them to use them when performing this task. Then they must continually and persistently enforce the face shield requirements. Doing so would have provided additional protection to the worker, even from the effects of the employee’s own actions.