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EMERGENCY SHOWERS & EYEWASH The Crucial Role of Emergency Eyewash Stations Emergency eyewash stations are central to the safety of everyone around them. What are some key innovations to eyewash stations, and how do companies ensure proper usage? BY JUSTIN WILSON Employees walk by their work sites’ emergency eyewash or shower station every day, hoping they never need to use them or, more likely, not giving them a second thought. However, when these stations are needed, they must work properly. Throughout my career, I’ve seen the state of pipes in manu- facturing plants and certain other facilities, and the water that flows from them. Many of us have seen online videos of teachers using their emergency showers for the first time in years (if ever) and having a slew of brown, dirty water pour out. While these videos are presented as lighthearted and amusing, imagine need- ing to use an emergency eyewash station and having rust and mineral-filled dirty water shoot out. The importance of maintain- ing, flushing, and regularly checking these fundamental pieces of safety equipment isn’t something we should look past. These stations are central to the safety of everyone around them, providing a first line of defense against dangerous burns and eye damage from chemicals, debris and more. However, the technology used remains largely the same as it’s been since the 1980s – simply activate the flow of water by pulling on a shower chain or pushing a valve handle to flush your eyes. Advantages of Sensor-Enabled Stations One of the few advancements we’ve made has been in sensors and alerts that go off when an eyewash station is activated, but those sensors and alerts are only as useful as people make them. So, what are some of the benefits of these sensors, and what should the people responsible for using, maintaining, and responding to incidents involving them know? First, these sensors will improve the response and reliability of the stations, alerting the security or front office if it’s used. Ad- ditionally, to prevent dirty water from pouring out of the station and flowing into the victims’ eyes, these systems can provide re- minders to conduct regular maintenance, keeping the water clean and ready to go for when it’s needed. Even if the system has a false alarm, someone must go visually to inspect the station to turn the alarm off, providing a touchpoint to make sure nothing is wrong and that things are working properly. How Eyewash Station Alarms Enhance Safety Washing station alarms can help first responders in case of an emer- gency. If someone is working with corrosive chemicals that splash in their eyes, their priority is getting to the eyewash, and therefore they may not be able to let anyone know what has happened. By the time they have finished flushing their eyes for the recommended 15 minutes, and can go seek help, a lot of vital time has passed. Put simply, if someone is using an emergency eyewash station, something within your facility has gone wrong. With an alarm that goes off when the station is used, supervisors and first re- sponders within your facility can begin to address the situation, Getty Images, under license to T&M Associates gauge the need for additional emergency medical attention and get help to the person in need faster. Emergency showers and eyewash stations are simple, and yet they are vital and effective for ensuring the safety of people working with corrosive chemicals. Quickly flushing and diluting chemicals from the skin and eyes can minimize or prevent the damage these chemicals can cause. And while showers and eye- washes are not specifically required for non-corrosive chemicals it would be a big relief to have them around if you were to get something like bleach in your eyes. Training and Education: Ensuring Proper Use of Eyewash Stations Training and education for everyone who works near these sys- tems is necessary to ensure that after the simple “push the valve and flush your eyes,” the proper actions are taken — like holding your eyes open and flushing for 15 minutes. Training someone on how to use an emergency shower or eye- wash station is straightforward – but what happens when such a system is actually used? There must be a protocol in place. For those 56 Occupational Health & Safety | JULY/AUGUST 2023 www.ohsonline.com