Page 78 - Occupational Health & Safety, June 2018
P. 78

HAND PROTECTION
Safety Professionals,‘We’ve Got a Problem’
Choose hand protection solutions via form, function, and fit.
BY MARY PADRON
74 Occupational Health & Safety | JUNE 2018
www.ohsonline.com
Astronauts wouldn’t dare go into their work “space” without wearing protective gear, especially hand protection, which is a criti- cal component of a space suit. Even though space gloves are incredibly bulky and non-dexterous– a common work glove complaint of workers–astro- nauts always wear them because they understand the danger and life-threatening consequences of not wearing safety gear. For astronauts, it’s simply not an option to forego wearing space PPE because it literally saves their lives.
How can we channel the astronaut’s “must wear PPE” attitude toward safety among our global work- force? How can we motivate workers to willingly
wear their hand protection like astronauts do? We motivate them by providing them with the appropri- ate glove for the task. That glove should be comfort- able and fit properly.
We encourage them to wear it through proper training and the constant reminder that hand protec- tion is a crucial part of the worker’s well-being. After all, if someone suffers a serious hand injury, such as losing a finger or the functional use of a hand, the quality of his or her life declines immensely. Hand protection protects a person’s well-being, not just the hands, fingers, and wrists.
Safety Professionals, ‘We’ve Got a Problem’
In the movie Apollo 13, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, the phrase “Houston, we’ve got a problem,” entered the mainstream culture. Although hand protection is evolving quickly like spacesuits due to technological and scientific breakthroughs that im- prove protection, comfort, and dexterity, the statistics for hand injuries still remain problematic.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and other sources, here are some of the numbers that reveal the severity of hand injuries:
■ Seventy percent of workers who experience hand injuries are not wearing gloves when the injury occurs.
■ Thirty percent of workers are wearing inad- equate or inappropriate hand protection.
■ One million workers are sent to emergency rooms annually because of hand injuries.
■ There are 250,000 serious injuries to fingers, hands, and wrists each year, propelling hand injuries to the second-leading cause of work-related injury (back and neck injuries take first place).
■ The average hand injury claim exceeds $13,000 when medical claim and workers’ compensation claims are coupled together.
■ The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that a severed tendon typically costs $70,000, a lacera- tion $10,000, and stitches $2,000.
Hand Protection Solutions Via Form, Function, and Fit
Spacesuits have evolved into machines of impres- sive complexity, even becoming miniature spacecraft that fly independently. Hand protection has grown increasingly complex, too, with all of the choices of- fered in the marketplace. From super yarns for high levels of cut protection to advanced palm coatings and thermal plastic overlays, choices for hand pro-
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