Page 38 - Occupational Health & Safety, January/February 2020

HAND PROTECTION
A New Year of Hand Safety
The new year can be a promising one for hand safety—but only if employers and workers seriously consider the implications of hand injuries and proper personal protective gloves.
BY LYDIA BAUGH
Team Effort
The International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) has been collaborating with the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) and the Vol- untary Protection Programs Participants’ Association (VPPPA) on a #SafeHands awareness and education campaign to help workers and employers grasp the importance of hand protection. The main message: wear gloves that match the hazards of a job, whether those might be punctures, cuts, impacts or others.
“Whether working on a pick-up route or in a ma- terial recovery facility (MRF), workers should have— and wear—hand protection that prevents injury from hazards such as, needle sticks and other hand-related risks common to handling the nation’s waste and re- cycling,” said NWRA CEO Darrell Smith. “We’re part- nering with ISEA to make sure glove manufacturers and suppliers really understand our industry, and to emphasize to our member employers and their work- ers that it’s vital to take hand safety seriously.”
“Personal protective equipment is a very important part of an effective safety management system,” said VPPPA Chairman of the Board J.A. Rodriguez Jr. “We are very excited to be collaborating with ISEA on help- ing to spread the word and in keeping VPPPA mem- bers informed. Our member network is in a unique position to join ISEA in positively influencing en- hanced hand protection for every worker, everywhere.”
Range of Hazards
ISEA and its partners have particularly spotlighted impacts, cuts and punctures as common risks that need hand-protection attention.
Last year, ISEA announced a new standard for industrial gloves aims to protect workers from hand- impact injuries. ANSI/ISEA 138-2019, American Na- tional Standard for Performance and Classification for Impact Resistant Hand Protection was released in 2019 to improve on the impact performance of indus- trial gloves. The new standard built upon the widely used ANSI/ISEA 105-2016, American National Stan- dard for Hand Protection Classification.
ANSI/ISEA 138 defined an agreed test method, included three defined performance levels, specified a pictogram mark for each of the levels for compliant gloves, and required products be tested in a laboratory with a certificate of accreditation meeting the require-
The year 2020 can be a new era for hand safe- ty—if employers and workers alike take hand protection seriously. Of the 286,810 non-fatal occupational injuries to upper extremities in 2018 involving days away from work in private in- dustry, 123,990 involved hands, which is more than 43 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics.1 The hand has 27 bones and 30 muscles, plus connective tendons and ligaments. Since healthy hand function is so essential to many tasks, the stakes are high for both employees and employers.
Hand injuries are both expensive and tragic. A hand injury can cost anywhere from $540 to $26,000, according to the National Safety Council. Injuries to the hand are the second most common type of work- place injury, so they also have a big impact on work- ers’ compensation claims. The National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc., found that “the pre- liminary 2018 average indemnity accident year claim severity increased by three percent relative to the cor- responding 2017 value. Medical lost-time claim sever- ity increased by one percent.”2
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has reported that 70.9 percent of hand and arm injuries could have been prevented with personal protective equipment, specifically safety gloves. Yet, 70 percent of workers don’t wear hand protection, and of those who do, 30 percent don’t wear the right kind of glove for the task.
34 Occupational Health & Safety | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
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