Page 50 - Occupational Health & Safety, November/December 2019

HAND PROTECTION/PPE
Picking the Right Glove for the Right Job: Hand Protection in the Oil and Gas Industry
With so many options, functions, and fits, selection can be overwhelming.
BY AMANDA SMILEY
Hand injuries are no joke. They account for a huge percentage of occupational injuries on the job, and they cost companies time and money. The good news? There are a number
of PPE gloves on the market to choose from for hand protection. The bad news? It’s often difficult to discern which glove is best for your job, employee, or task.
Of all the occupational hand injuries, the oil and gas industry often sees the most. Using many tools, performing hands-on tasks, and working with slip- pery oil all contribute to the high rate of oil and gas hand injuries. Researchers and manufacturers have been at work to figure out how to reduce this risk and better protect employees on the job.
The oil and gas industry does not just have a high rate of hand injuries—it has an eight times higher fa- tality rate compared to other industries, too. Protect- ing workers’ hands is important not just for employee safety, but for company costs and liability as well. Ac- cording to WorkSafeBC Magazine,1 impact injuries to wrists, fingers, and hands accounted for 20 percent of all body parts injured in the oil and gas industry be- tween 2009 and 2013. A single oilfield injury can cost a cost a company over $21,000 and sometimes more.2
The Bureau of Labor Statistics regularly releases data on workplace injuries, and hand injuries are rou- tinely one of the highest reported injuries. In 2014, upper extremities affected by an injury accounted for 346,170 cases, or 32 cases per 10,000 full-time work- ers. Hands accounted for the most of upper extremity cases at 40 percent.3
To better understand hand injuries within the oil and gas industry, OH&S worked with Cecilia Che- min, hand protection product manager for Honeywell Industrial Safety. You might be asking the following questions about hand protection for your employees:
What are the most common hand risk employees face in the oil and gas industry? The oil and gas industry requires the use of heavy tools, slippery oil products, and large machinery. So, it’s not surprising so many injuries occur in the field.
“Working with hammers, tools and heavy machin- ery under severe weather conditions or atmospheric challenges like poorly lit spaces can affect manual dex- terity and mental concentration, which can increase the likelihood of hand injury,” Chemin said. “And if the worker is wearing a glove that is not properly fitted
or suited for the job, or it’s worn out or damaged, that can further increase the likelihood of injury.”
According to Chemin, wrist, hand, and finger in- juries resulting from impact blows and cuts, and lac- erations from working around machinery, are among some of the most common oil and gas injuries.
How important is it for workers to have
a glove tailored to specific activities
rather than a one-size-fits-all model?
While it would make life easier to have a one-size-sits all glove for all people, activities, and jobs, that is nei- ther safe nor plausible. PPE gloves are meant for pro- tection, and in the oil and gas industry, a PPE glove needs to have a number of elements to best enhance workability and protect employees simultaneously.
Modern PPE gloves can cater to a number of nec- essary safety functions: high-visibility, impact- and cut-resistance, weather protective, coating technolo- gy, and gripping force. Of these elements, impact- and cut-resistance and gripping force are particularly im- portant in the oil and gas industry. Chemin describes how these glove functions protect worker hands, pre- vent hand fatigue, and make wearing PPE gloves both enjoyable and worthwhile.
“High-visibility colors can be a great aid for hand signaling for workers who labor under low-light conditions,” Chemin said. “Flexible application use means that it should offer cut- and impact-resistance. [Gloves] should be made rugged to withstand ex- treme conditions, yet also be comfortable to wear and lightweight so that the wearer doesn’t suffer from hand fatigue over the course of a workday.
Thanks to advanced knitting technologies...man- ufacturers can now produce gloves that are extremely dexterous and comfortable, and at the same time pro- vide excellent cut resistance. Coating technology has improved substantially through the development of new materials and processes, ...[and] new gloves re- quire less gripping force to hold slippery objects com- pared with previous generation designs.”
Why are employee hand injuries such
a big concern for employers in the oil
and gas industry (liability, cost etc.)?
The hands are some of our bodies’ most important tools; we use them for nearly everything. While this should be enough to want to wear effective PPE on the
46 Occupational Health & Safety | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
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