Persons are not good and infrequently make mistakes. We take shortcuts, forget how to do things, or grow to be distracted at occasions once we shouldn’t. In most points of our lives, these are not things which have dire consequences. At work, nonetheless, surrounded by hazards, these types of mistakes can alter lives, even end them. So, regardless that human beings will not be perfect, we have to make our safety programs as near excellent as we can.

PPE Focus: Face Shields
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an aspect of safety the place individuals tend to make many mistakes, and for quite a lot of reasons. Typically, we think that the mere wearing of PPE makes us proof against injury. With as a lot emphasis as we place on eye protection and head protection, do we lose sight (no pun meant) of protecting our faces? Definitely, eye protection is important, since eye injuries can lead to permanent blindness. Equally important is head protection, stopping deadly head accidents the perfect that we can. Face injuries may not appear as significant a priority. They do not have the instant, permanent, and potentially fatal penalties of the others. With that said, though, an employer’s responsibility is to protect all parts of their employees, including their faces.

That responsibility consists of identifying tasks where face shields needs to be used, providing face shields for workers to make use of, training them to make use of face shields accurately, and to right employees when face shields are used incorrectly or not used at all. The primary components are easy. Our workers will make mistakes. Correcting those errors and imposing your organization’s face shield necessities is an essential a part of an efficient PPE program. Sadly, too often, this aspect of the PPE program isn't enforced till after an worker is injured.

Situations to Use Face Shields
Consider the following conditions where face shields ought to have been used, and the results 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, inflicting a pressure launch within the line. The discharge of anhydrous ammonia splashed on the worker’s face. The worker was hospitalized for chemical burns on and across the face.
An employee was installing a water pipe at a multifamily residential development project. The employee initially was working an excavator, then climbed down from the excavator to cut a 10-inch water pipe with a cut-off saw. The saw kicked back and struck the worker’s face. Co-workers called emergency services, who transported the worker to the hospital. The worker was admitted to the hospital and handled for facial lacerations that prolonged from underneath the left eye to underneath the jaw.
In the first scenario, the worker suffered critical chemical burns. A face shield would have significantly reduced the chemical publicity, the extent of the chemical burns, and probably might have prevented any ammonia from splashing on the worker’s face. Sure, the employee turned the unsuitable valve, but does that imply that the employer is absolved of all responsibility for this incident? In fact not. The fact remains that the employer should provide workers filling ammonia nurse tanks with face shields, train staff to make use of the face shields correctly, and require them to use them when performing this task. Then they must regularly and persistently enforce the face shield requirements. Doing so would have provided additional protection to the employee, even from the effects of the worker’s own actions.