Individuals are not excellent and often make mistakes. We take shortcuts, forget the right way to do things, or change into distracted at instances once we shouldn’t. In most elements of our lives, these usually are not things which have dire consequences. At work, nonetheless, surrounded by hazards, these types of errors can alter lives, even end them. So, though human beings are usually not perfect, we have to make our safety programs as near excellent as we can.
PPE Focus: Face Shields
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a side of safety the place people tend 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 a lot emphasis as we place on eye protection and head protection, will we lose sight (no pun meant) of protecting our faces? Definitely, eye protection is essential, since eye injuries can lead to permanent blindness. Equally vital is head protection, preventing fatal head accidents one of the best that we can. Face accidents may not appear as significant a priority. They don’t have the quick, permanent, and probably fatal consequences of the others. With that said, though, an employer’s accountability is to protect all components of their workers, including their faces.
That duty contains identifying tasks the place face shields ought to be used, providing face shields for workers to make use of, training them to make use of face shields correctly, and to correct staff when face shields are used incorrectly or not used at all. The first components are easy. Our workers will make mistakes. Correcting these errors and implementing your company’s face shield necessities is an essential a part of an effective PPE program. Unfortunately, too often, this side of the PPE program isn’t enforced until after an employee is injured.
Conditions to Use Face Shields
Consider the next conditions where face shields should have been used, and the implications for the injured workers and their employers.
An employee was filling ammonia nurse tanks from a bulk plant. The employee was distracted while closing the valves, and mistakenly turned the mistaken valve, inflicting a pressure launch within the line. The discharge of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the employee’s face. The worker was hospitalized for chemical burns on and across the face.
An worker was installing a water pipe at a multifamily residential construction project. The employee initially was working an excavator, then climbed down from the excavator to cut a 10-inch water pipe with a minimize-off saw. The noticed 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.
In the first scenario, the worker suffered critical chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical publicity, the extent of the chemical burns, and probably may have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the worker’s face. Sure, the worker turned the wrong valve, but does that mean that the employer is absolved of all responsibility for this incident? Of course not. The actual fact remains that the employer ought to provide workers filling ammonia nurse tanks with face shields, train staff to use the face shields correctly, and require them to make use of them when performing this task. Then they need to frequently and constantly implement the face shield requirements. Doing so would have provided additional protection to the employee, even from the effects of the employee’s own actions.
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