Face Shields Proper Usage
Individuals are not good and often make mistakes. We take shortcuts, forget tips on how to do things, or grow to be distracted at instances after we shouldn’t. In most aspects of our lives, these are not things that have dire consequences. At work, however, surrounded by hazards, these types of mistakes can alter lives, even finish them. So, even though human beings are not good, we have 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 the place individuals are likely to make many errors, and for a wide range of reasons. Often, 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 supposed) of protecting our faces? Certainly, eye protection is essential, since eye accidents can lead to everlasting blindness. Equally important is head protection, preventing fatal head accidents the perfect that we can. Face accidents might not seem as significant a priority. They do not have the instant, everlasting, and doubtlessly deadly consequences of the others. With that said, though, an employer’s accountability is to protect all parts of their staff, together with their faces.
That accountability contains identifying tasks where face shields should be used, providing face shields for employees to make use of, 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 components are easy. Our staff will make mistakes. Correcting these errors and enforcing your company’s face shield necessities is an essential a part of an effective PPE program. Sadly, too typically, this side of the PPE program shouldn't be enforced till after an worker is injured.
Conditions to Use Face Shields
Consider the following conditions where face shields ought to have been used, and the implications for the injured workers and their employers.
An worker was filling ammonia nurse tanks from a bulk plant. The worker was distracted while closing the valves, and mistakenly turned the unsuitable valve, causing a pressure launch in the line. The release of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the employee’s face. The worker was hospitalized for chemical burns on and across the face.
An employee 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 chop a ten-inch water pipe with a minimize-off saw. The saw kicked back and struck the employee’s face. Co-workers called emergency companies, who transported the employee to the hospital. The employee was admitted to the hospital and handled for facial lacerations that extended from underneath the left eye to underneath the jaw.
In the first scenario, 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. Yes, the employee turned the unsuitable valve, however does that mean that the employer is absolved of all accountability for this incident? Of course not. The very fact remains that the employer should provide employees filling ammonia nurse tanks with face shields, train workers to use the face shields correctly, and require them to use them when performing this task. Then they have 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.
