Persons are not good and infrequently make mistakes. We take shortcuts, overlook the right way to do things, or develop into distracted at occasions when we shouldn’t. In most features of our lives, these aren’t things that have dire consequences. At work, however, surrounded by hazards, these types of errors can alter lives, even end them. So, even though human beings aren’t excellent, we need to make our safety programs as close to perfect as we can.
PPE Focus: Face Shields
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a facet of safety the place folks tend to make many errors, and for a wide range of reasons. Typically, we think that the mere wearing of PPE makes us resistant to injury. With as a lot emphasis as we place on eye protection and head protection, will we lose sight (no pun supposed) of protecting our faces? Actually, eye protection is important, since eye injuries can lead to permanent blindness. Equally vital is head protection, preventing deadly head injuries the very best that we can. Face accidents may not seem as significant a priority. They do not have the rapid, permanent, and potentially fatal penalties of the others. With that said, though, an employer’s duty is to protect all parts of their staff, including their faces.
That accountability includes figuring out tasks the place face shields ought to be used, providing face shields for workers to use, 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 primary elements are easy. Our employees will make mistakes. Correcting these mistakes and imposing your company’s face shield necessities is an essential a part of an efficient PPE program. Unfortunately, too typically, this facet of the PPE program is not enforced until after an employee is injured.
Conditions to Use Face Shields
Consider the following conditions the place face shields ought to 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 worker was distracted while closing the valves, and mistakenly turned the wrong valve, inflicting a pressure release 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 employee was putting in a water pipe at a multifamily residential building project. The employee initially was working an excavator, then climbed down from the excavator to cut a 10-inch water pipe with a cut-off saw. The noticed kicked back and struck the worker’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 situation, the employee suffered serious chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical exposure, the extent of the chemical burns, and presumably might have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the worker’s face. Sure, the worker turned the improper valve, but does that imply that the employer is absolved of all accountability 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 make use of the face shields accurately, and require them to use them when performing this task. Then they have to regularly 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.