Page 50 - Occupational Health & Safety, February 2017

HAND PROTECTION
Everyone can learn where their Points Of Weakness are when working and then make simple and easy moves to consciously avoid balance loss and better support and protect their hands.
Learning how to employ most efficient physical principles of grip, leverage, and balance can boost control when wielding tools or in positioning materials and equipment for maximum leverage and control. In addition to sustaining hand injuries from falling, many workers wind up setting/dropping the end of a load down suddenly as their balance shifts (or, in team manual material han- dling, when the person on the other end of the load sets their end down unexpectedly). Or they lose control when a wrench slips and they bang their hand against a solid object (or the wrench crunches their off hand). Or a load slips and they instinctively reach out sud- denly to try to steady or catch it.
But trying to tell people “Do Not Touch,” to let a falling object go (as do some companies), is fighting human nature; it’s hard- wired into most to reach out to prevent damage. What does work better is to build in a positive, safer replacement habit. This is read- ily done with the right practice.
‘Stuff’ Happens
There’s an old saying: “Anything that can happen will happen.” In other words, there are many things not in our control. Given enough use or exposure, something unplanned or unexpected will almost certainly occur. But hand injuries are not inevitable, despite
the range and volume of risks many workers face.
Hands-On Approach 5. Elevate personal control for safety.
The right mental and physical skillsets go hand in hand toward protecting employees and their hands. These skills are what we’ve been transferring to workers worldwide for more than the past 30 years. Experience shows we can help everyone reduce his or her frequency of hand injury while simultaneously minimizing the po- tential severity of any hand-related incident.
The combination keys are:
■ Upgrading their skills at directing their own attention to identify potential hazards
■ Reducing the number and types of unnecessary exposures we subject our hands to
■ Placing themselves in the optimal body position for control of the things their hands contact, and
■ Employing the best PPE that actually helps and doesn’t in itself raise hand risks.
Knowledge, skills, and awareness go hand in hand toward peo- ple significantly protecting themselves from these common, and frustrating, injuries.
Charlie Braxton (cbraxton@movesmart.com) and Ron Bowles (rdbowles@movesmart.com) have trained workers and Instructor- Catalysts in the MoveSMART® HandSMART® system for Hess Oil, Domtar, Wacker, Halliburton, US Steel, and more.
Education for Safety Professionals
Sharpen your safety skills from the convenience of your computer.
Whether you’re an experienced health and safety professional or new to the industry, OH&S Academy has the training you need to stay up-to-date on the job. At only $99 each, our 90-minute online courses are designed to fit your schedule and budget.
OH&S Academy offers new-, intermediate-, and advanced-level courses throughout the year. These training courses are designed for safety managers, HR directors, and top executives: “The New Safety Professional’s Toolbox” courses will help safety professionals with minimal experience achieve compliance and recordkeeping goals and meet the challenges of an OSHA audit; intermediate-level courses, for professionals with 2-10 years of experience, cover human resources for hiring good employees and staying compliant, return-to-work programs, and instilling an effective safety culture; advanced courses will teach senior safety and HR managers and C-suite executives how to prevent soft-tissue injuries, which are a significant problem for aging U.S. workforces, and how to move toward global-class safety performance and culture.
Visit ohsonline.com for these OH&S Academy courses and more on demand:
Advanced Level Courses
Leading with Ergonomic Improvement Indicators, presented by Robert Pater
Help the “Bulletproof ” Employee Make the Safety Connection, presented by J.A. Rodriguez Jr. High-Performance Ergonomic Leadership, presented by Robert Pater
Intermediate Level Courses
Health & Safety: Breaking Down the Silos, presented by Dustin Boss
OSHAlogs Recordingkeeping Tips, Tricks, and Common Mistakes, presented by Dustin Boss
Register today at ohsonline.com
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