People are not good and often make mistakes. We take shortcuts, forget tips on how to do things, or become distracted at occasions when we shouldn’t. In most facets of our lives, these are usually not things which have dire consequences. At work, nevertheless, surrounded by hazards, these types of errors can alter lives, even end them. So, regardless that human beings are usually not excellent, we need to make our safety programs as near perfect as we can.
PPE Focus: Face Shields
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a side of safety the place folks tend to make many errors, and for quite a lot of reasons. Typically, 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, will we lose sight (no pun meant) of protecting our faces? Actually, eye protection is important, since eye accidents can lead to everlasting blindness. Equally vital is head protection, preventing fatal head injuries the perfect that we can. Face injuries might not seem as significant a priority. They don’t have the immediate, permanent, and potentially deadly penalties of the others. With that said, though, an employer’s responsibility is to protect all parts of their employees, including their faces.
That accountability contains figuring out tasks where face shields ought to be used, providing face shields for employees to make use of, training them to make use of face shields accurately, and to right employees when face shields are used incorrectly or not used at all. The first components are easy. Our staff will make mistakes. Correcting those mistakes and enforcing your organization’s face shield requirements is an essential part of an efficient PPE program. Unfortunately, too often, this aspect of the PPE program is not enforced until after an employee is injured.
Situations to Use Face Shields
Consider the following situations the place face shields should have been used, and the consequences 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 fallacious valve, causing a pressure launch in the line. The release of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the employee’s face. The employee was hospitalized for chemical burns on and across the face.
An worker was installing a water pipe at a multifamily residential development project. The employee initially was working an excavator, then climbed down from the excavator to cut a ten-inch water pipe with a reduce-off saw. The saw kicked back and struck the employee’s face. Co-workers called emergency providers, who transported the employee to the hospital. The worker was admitted to the hospital and treated for facial lacerations that prolonged from underneath the left eye to underneath the jaw.
In the first state of affairs, the employee suffered critical chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical publicity, the extent of the chemical burns, and probably could have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the worker’s face. Sure, the worker turned the fallacious valve, however does that imply that the employer is absolved of all responsibility 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 accurately, and require them to make use of them when performing this task. Then they have to frequently and persistently implement the face shield requirements. Doing so would have provided additional protection to the worker, even from the effects of the worker’s own actions.
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