Individuals are not perfect and often make mistakes. We take shortcuts, neglect find out how to do things, or become distracted at instances when we shouldn’t. In most features of our lives, these will not be things which have dire consequences. At work, however, surrounded by hazards, these types of mistakes can alter lives, even end them. So, though human beings aren’t perfect, we have to make our safety programs as near excellent as we can.
PPE Focus: Face Shields
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an aspect of safety the place individuals are likely to make many errors, and for a variety of reasons. Usually, 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, do we lose sight (no pun supposed) of protecting our faces? Certainly, eye protection is necessary, since eye accidents can lead to everlasting blindness. Equally vital is head protection, stopping fatal head accidents the perfect that we can. Face accidents may not appear as significant a priority. They don’t have the quick, permanent, and doubtlessly fatal penalties of the others. With that said, though, an employer’s accountability is to protect all parts of their staff, including their faces.
That responsibility consists of figuring out tasks where face shields should be used, providing face shields for employees to use, training them to use face shields accurately, and to appropriate staff when face shields are used incorrectly or not used at all. The first elements are easy. Our staff will make mistakes. Correcting those mistakes and enforcing your company’s face shield necessities is an essential a part of an efficient PPE program. Sadly, too often, this facet of the PPE program will not be enforced until after an employee is injured.
Situations to Use Face Shields
Consider the next situations the place face shields should have been used, and the results 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 flawed valve, causing a pressure launch within the line. The discharge of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the worker’s face. The employee was hospitalized for chemical burns on and around the face.
An worker was putting in a water pipe at a multifamily residential building project. The employee initially was operating an excavator, then climbed down from the excavator to chop a ten-inch water pipe with a reduce-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 employee was admitted to the hospital and treated for facial lacerations that extended from underneath the left eye to underneath the jaw.
Within the first scenario, the worker suffered serious chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical exposure, the extent of the chemical burns, and presumably may have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the worker’s face. Yes, the worker turned the incorrect valve, however does that imply that the employer is absolved of all responsibility for this incident? After all not. The very fact remains that the employer ought to provide employees filling ammonia nurse tanks with face shields, train workers to use the face shields accurately, and require them to use them when performing this task. Then they have to 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.