Individuals are not perfect and infrequently make mistakes. We take shortcuts, forget tips on how to do things, or become distracted at occasions after we shouldn’t. In most features of our lives, these aren’t things which have dire consequences. At work, however, surrounded by hazards, these types of errors can alter lives, even end them. So, regardless that human beings should not excellent, we have to make our safety programs as near perfect as we can.
PPE Focus: Face Shields
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an aspect of safety the place people are inclined to make many mistakes, and for a variety of reasons. Typically, we think that the mere wearing of PPE makes us resistant to 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? Definitely, eye protection is vital, since eye injuries can lead to everlasting blindness. Equally essential is head protection, stopping fatal head injuries the very best that we can. Face injuries might not appear as significant a priority. They don’t have the rapid, everlasting, and potentially deadly consequences of the others. With that said, although, an employer’s accountability is to protect all elements of their workers, together with their faces.
That duty contains identifying 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 right employees when face shields are used incorrectly or not used at all. The primary parts are easy. Our staff will make mistakes. Correcting these mistakes and implementing your organization’s face shield requirements is an essential a part of an effective PPE program. Sadly, too usually, this aspect of the PPE program shouldn’t be enforced until after an employee is injured.
Situations to Use Face Shields
Consider the following situations the place face shields ought to have been used, and the results for the injured workers and their employers.
An employee was filling ammonia nurse tanks from a bulk plant. The worker was distracted while closing the valves, and mistakenly turned the incorrect valve, inflicting a pressure release in the line. The release of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the employee’s face. The worker was hospitalized for chemical burns on and across the face.
An employee was putting in a water pipe at a multifamily residential development project. The employee initially was working an excavator, then climbed down from the excavator to chop a ten-inch water pipe with a cut-off saw. The saw kicked back and struck the employee’s face. Co-workers called emergency services, who transported the worker to the hospital. The worker was admitted to the hospital and handled for facial lacerations that prolonged from underneath the left eye to underneath the jaw.
Within the first scenario, the employee suffered critical chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical publicity, the extent of the chemical burns, and presumably might have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the employee’s face. Sure, the worker turned the wrong valve, however does that imply that the employer is absolved of all accountability for this incident? Of course not. The fact remains that the employer ought to provide workers filling ammonia nurse tanks with face shields, train employees to make use of the face shields correctly, and require them to make use of them when performing this task. Then they must frequently and consistently implement the face shield requirements. Doing so would have provided additional protection to the employee, even from the effects of the worker’s own actions.