Face Shields Proper Usage

  • -

Face Shields Proper Usage

Tags : 

People are not excellent and often make mistakes. We take shortcuts, neglect the best way to do things, or grow to be distracted at times once we shouldn’t. In most points of our lives, these should not things which 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 perfect, 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. Usually, we think that the mere wearing of PPE makes us immune to injury. With as much 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 important, since eye accidents can lead to permanent blindness. Equally necessary is head protection, preventing deadly head accidents the very best that we can. Face accidents might not appear as significant a priority. They don’t have the instant, everlasting, and potentially deadly consequences of the others. With that said, although, an employer’s duty is to protect all parts of their staff, including their faces.

That accountability consists of figuring out tasks where face shields should be used, providing face shields for employees to use, training them to make use of face shields correctly, and to appropriate employees when face shields are used incorrectly or not used at all. The primary components are easy. Our employees will make mistakes. Correcting those errors 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 worker is injured.

Situations to Use Face Shields
Consider the following conditions where 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 unsuitable valve, inflicting a pressure launch in the line. The release of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the worker’s face. The worker was hospitalized for chemical burns on and across the face.
An worker 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 chop a ten-inch water pipe with a minimize-off saw. The noticed kicked back and struck the worker’s face. Co-workers called emergency providers, who transported the worker to the hospital. The employee was admitted to the hospital and treated for facial lacerations that prolonged from underneath the left eye to underneath the jaw.
Within the first scenario, the worker suffered serious chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical exposure, the extent of the chemical burns, and presumably may have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the employee’s face. Yes, the worker turned the improper valve, however does that imply that the employer is absolved of all accountability for this incident? After all not. The fact remains that the employer should provide staff filling ammonia nurse tanks with face shields, train workers to make use of the face shields appropriately, and require them to use them when performing this task. Then they must frequently and constantly enforce the face shield requirements. Doing so would have provided additional protection to the worker, even from the effects of the employee’s own actions.


If you need us then send an e mail.