Persons are not perfect and sometimes make mistakes. We take shortcuts, overlook how you can do things, or develop into distracted at occasions once we shouldn’t. In most elements of our lives, these will not be things which have dire consequences. At work, nonetheless, surrounded by hazards, these types of mistakes can alter lives, even end them. So, although human beings are not good, we need to make our safety programs as close to perfect as we can.
PPE Focus: Face Shields
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an aspect of safety where folks tend 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 essential, since eye injuries can lead to permanent blindness. Equally essential is head protection, stopping fatal head injuries the most effective that we can. Face injuries might not appear as significant a priority. They don’t have the rapid, everlasting, and potentially fatal penalties of the others. With that said, though, an employer’s accountability is to protect all parts of their employees, together with their faces.
That duty contains identifying tasks the place face shields must be used, providing face shields for workers to use, training them to make use of face shields appropriately, and to appropriate staff when face shields are used incorrectly or not used at all. The primary elements are easy. Our employees will make mistakes. Correcting those errors and enforcing your company’s face shield requirements is an essential a part of an efficient PPE program. Unfortunately, too typically, this facet of the PPE program just isn’t enforced till after an worker is injured.
Conditions to Use Face Shields
Consider the next 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 flawed valve, inflicting a pressure release in the line. The release of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the employee’s face. The employee was hospitalized for chemical burns on and around the face.
An employee was installing 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 employee’s face. Co-workers called emergency companies, who transported the worker to the hospital. The employee was admitted to the hospital and handled for facial lacerations that prolonged from underneath the left eye to underneath the jaw.
Within the first scenario, the worker suffered critical chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical exposure, the extent of the chemical burns, and probably could have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the employee’s face. Yes, the worker turned the unsuitable valve, however does that mean that the employer is absolved of all duty for this incident? After all not. The fact remains that the employer should provide employees filling ammonia nurse tanks with face shields, train employees to use the face shields correctly, and require them to make use of them when performing this task. Then they need 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 employee’s own actions.
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