Page 33 - OHS, July/August 2020

The idea in today’s current culture is to simply wear something that will help avoid the hazard. Little thought is given to how to fix the issue prior to putting on a pair of gloves.
packer. Combine those elements with sharp knives and a moving line, the chances of hand injuries are increased considerably.3 The response to this increased hazard is to provide cut-resistant gloves to the employee. Check the box and move on.
Hierarchy of Controls
As safety professionals, we know about the hierarchy of controls for safety and we know that PPE is the last line of defense; however, it is the go-to for most companies. Have a hazard to the hands? Buy gloves and check the box. The gloves that are purchased should not be expensive because there is a budget to maintain.
Why do we start with the last line of defense? Our first thought should be to eliminate the hazard. Find out what the issue is during that risk-assessment matrix discussion and try to eliminate it.
With iron workers, for example, it is not uncommon for them to place their hands in the pinch point areas. Lifting tons of iron and putting it in place using cranes and human muscle is how it is done. Lowering columns and beams into position requires the employee to be in between hazard zones. How do we eliminate that issue?
Replace the PPE
Substitution is the next in the line in the hierarchy. That is: “Can we find a different way to make the work happen?” Decades ago, firefighters would ride the rear step of the engine, or hang off the side of the ladder truck. They wore rubber coats with rolled-up boots and plastic helmets. They were issued orange rubber gloves and expected to go into high-heat environments wearing items that would melt onto their skin.
You cannot eliminate the high-heat situation of a structure fire, so the next step would be to substitute the PPE. Plastic helmets were transformed into today’s structural firefighting helmet. Rub- ber coats gave way to Nomex firefighting bunker gear. Orange rub- ber gloves were replaced with leather gloves that provide cut and puncture resistance. The hazards of firefighting are now mitigated by substituting out the PPE that would have created an issue.
Engineering a Solution
Engineering is the box below substitution in the inverted triangle of the hierarchy of controls. Construction work has routinely been a field where the typical leather glove was used. The typical leath- er glove had good dexterity with another layer of skin above the workers’ skin, but not much for cut resistance or puncture protec- tion. However, they did help with keeping the blisters to a mini- mum when swinging that hammer all day long.
Later, engineering controls were placed in the hand-protection realm by incorporating different materials that would allow for breathability, dexterity, cut and puncture protection and impact re- sistance. One could always tell a person who used their hands a lot because they would have at least one or two blackened fingernails. Or, they scraped knuckles from working inside an engine compart-
ment on an automobile. People in the industry demanded better protection from these hazards.
So, the safety engineers started looking at what workers do and how they do it. They came up with ways to help via Kevlar materi- als, impact resistant pads, and ventilation systems to make it more comfortable, etc. This allowed workers to complete their tasks in a more protected set of gloves that were easier to wear for an ex- tended time.
Changing Things
Administrative controls are next in the upside-down triangle. Ro- tating people out of the hazard zone or changing up the tasks so that one person does not have to be exposed to the hazard is what this section highlights. For example, the employee working on the assembly line doing the same task over and over again can create an overuse hazard. Switching workers out of that task helps mitigate the damage done to an employee’s hands and arms.
Consider the worker who must have their hands in a water bath for hours. After a period, this can become a hazard for the worker. Wearing waterproof gloves is an answer, but with these gloves comes another form of hazard (medical dermatitis and fungal infections, for example). So, counting on the PPE alone is not the answer.
Finally, we come to the actual PPE control: Wear the gloves. That is the standard answer. With the COVID-19 issue, the rec- ommendations are to wash your hands frequently throughout the day, do not touch your face and wear your gloves. Some even sug- gest washing your hands with gloves on, then removing them and washing your hands again.
Yet, considering the hierarchy of controls we have discussed, wouldn’t it be better to start at the top of the inverted triangle first? The wearing of gloves should be our last thought, not the first. What type of gloves should be worn? With all the different types out there, what is the best for the task at hand? The idea in today’s current culture is to simply wear something that will help avoid the hazard. Little thought is given to how to fix the issue prior to put- ting on a pair of gloves.
Safety professionals spend time and money on the last step and not so much on the first four steps of the hierarchy of controls. Per- haps we should rethink our approach to the hazards and spend the majority of our time trying to control the hazards with the items in the inverted triangle of the hierarchy of control before relying on the PPE answer.
Jeff Buckau is an occupational safety and health faculty member with Columbia Southern University and a regional manager/safety consultant with for a South Carolina safety firm.
REFERENCES
1. www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/guidance-list. html?Sort=Date%3A%3Adesc.
2. www.mscdirect.com/betterMRO/safety/ansi-standards-ppe-guide- hand-protection.
3. www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/05/amputations- serious-injuries-us-meat-industry-plant
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