Individuals are not perfect and sometimes make mistakes. We take shortcuts, forget how you can do things, or become distracted at times when we shouldn’t. In most elements of our lives, these usually are not things which have dire consequences. At work, nevertheless, surrounded by hazards, these types of mistakes can alter lives, even end them. So, even though human beings will not be excellent, we have to make our safety programs as near good as we can.
PPE Focus: Face Shields
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a side of safety where folks tend to make many errors, and for quite a lot of reasons. Usually, we think that the mere wearing of PPE makes us immune to injury. With as a lot emphasis as we place on eye protection and head protection, can we lose sight (no pun supposed) of protecting our faces? Definitely, eye protection is vital, since eye accidents can lead to permanent blindness. Equally essential is head protection, stopping deadly head accidents the perfect that we can. Face accidents could not appear as significant a priority. They do not have the rapid, everlasting, and potentially deadly consequences of the others. With that said, although, an employer’s responsibility is to protect all elements of their employees, including their faces.
That duty includes figuring out tasks the place face shields should be used, providing face shields for workers to use, training them to use face shields appropriately, and to right workers 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 implementing your company’s face shield requirements is an essential part of an efficient PPE program. Unfortunately, too typically, this side of the PPE program will not be enforced till after an worker is injured.
Situations to Use Face Shields
Consider the following situations 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 unsuitable valve, causing a pressure release in the line. The discharge of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the worker’s face. The employee was hospitalized for chemical burns on and across the face.
An worker was putting in 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 ten-inch water pipe with a lower-off saw. The noticed kicked back and struck the employee’s face. Co-workers called emergency services, who transported the employee 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 situation, the employee suffered serious chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical exposure, the extent of the chemical burns, and probably may have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the employee’s face. Yes, the employee turned the fallacious valve, however does that imply that the employer is absolved of all duty for this incident? After all not. The fact remains that the employer should provide workers filling ammonia nurse tanks with face shields, train employees to use the face shields appropriately, and require them to make use of them when performing this task. Then they must regularly and persistently enforce the face shield requirements. Doing so would have provided additional protection to the worker, even from the effects of the worker’s own actions.