Persons are not perfect and often make mistakes. We take shortcuts, neglect how one can do things, or turn out to be distracted at times once we shouldn’t. In most features of our lives, these will not be things which have dire consequences. At work, nonetheless, surrounded by hazards, these types of mistakes can alter lives, even finish them. So, regardless that human beings will not be perfect, we have to make our safety programs as close to excellent as we can.

PPE Focus: Face Shields
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an aspect of safety where people are likely to make many errors, and for a wide range of reasons. Often, we think that the mere wearing of PPE makes us immune to injury. With as much emphasis as we place on eye protection and head protection, do we lose sight (no pun meant) of protecting our faces? Actually, eye protection is vital, since eye accidents can lead to permanent blindness. Equally important is head protection, preventing deadly head accidents the perfect that we can. Face injuries might not appear as significant a priority. They do not have the instant, permanent, and doubtlessly fatal penalties of the others. With that said, though, an employer’s duty is to protect all parts of their employees, including their faces.

That duty consists of identifying tasks the place face shields needs to be used, providing face shields for workers to make use of, training them to make use of face shields appropriately, and to correct staff when face shields are used incorrectly or not used at all. The primary elements are easy. Our staff will make mistakes. Correcting these mistakes and enforcing your organization’s face shield necessities is an essential a part of an efficient PPE program. Unfortunately, too typically, this aspect of the PPE program will not be enforced until after an worker is injured.

Conditions to Use Face Shields
Consider the following conditions where face shields ought to have been used, and the implications for the injured workers and their employers.

An employee was filling ammonia nurse tanks from a bulk plant. The employee was distracted while closing the valves, and mistakenly turned the mistaken valve, causing a pressure release in the line. The discharge of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the worker’s face. The worker was hospitalized for chemical burns on and around the face.
An worker was installing a water pipe at a multifamily residential construction project. The employee initially was working an excavator, then climbed down from the excavator to chop a 10-inch water pipe with a cut-off saw. The saw kicked back and struck the worker’s face. Co-workers called emergency providers, who transported the employee to the hospital. The employee was admitted to the hospital and handled for facial lacerations that extended from underneath the left eye to underneath the jaw.
Within the first situation, the employee suffered critical chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical publicity, the extent of the chemical burns, and possibly could have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the worker’s face. Yes, the employee turned the unsuitable valve, but does that imply that the employer is absolved of all accountability for this incident? In fact not. The actual fact stays that the employer should provide workers filling ammonia nurse tanks with face shields, train staff to make use of the face shields appropriately, and require them to make use of them when performing this task. Then they must continually and constantly implement the face shield requirements. Doing so would have provided additional protection to the employee, even from the effects of the worker’s own actions.