Occupational Health & Safety: When it comes to work-related injuries to the eyes, face, and head, the statistics are sobering. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2008, approximately 3.7 million injuries and illnesses were reported in private industry workplaces at a rate of 3.9 per 100 full-time workers. Among the nearly 1.1 million injuries resulting in at least one day away from work, more than 70,000 were head injuries, and more than 60 percent of all head injuries occurred to the face.
8 comments:
These statistics do not surprise me at all. Many people, actually most, will do something stupid in an unsafe environment. Let's use Carnival as an example, most people do not have safety goggles (even though they are provided for free), hard hats are required (but people try to not wear them), closed toe shoes are must (yet I've seen people in flip flops). As part of EMS and Carnival committee, it drives me nuts at how unsafe people are. I mean that's why EMS even needs a trailer at midway! If only people understood the importance of safety equipment. That's one thing I'm glad we are required to use in the shop. Even though I don't always enjoy wearing it, I do understand it is needed.
General consensus: safety glasses are lame. Especially if you're like me and have to wear the big goggles overtop of your normal glasses. (The one's that leave lovely marks on your forehead and below your eyes.) HOWEVER missing eyes and concussions are even more lame. If people choose to work in a field where safety equipment is required, it is essential that they are able to overcome their potentially dimmed appearance long enough to ensure they aren't going to injure themselves. It's frustrating when people refuse to keep themselves safe because that means wearing a hard hat or clunky glasses. On a related note, here are some super cool Swedish women who overcame this problem of fashion vs safety when it comes to riding a bike:
http://jalopnik.com/swedes-develop-invisible-bike-helmet-1460189477/@jasontorch?utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_facebook&utm_source=jalopnik_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
I am also in the category of having to wear giant goggles in order to fit them over my glasses…but I have to disagree in their stylishness! Nerdy is back and better than ever! But seriously, I have my own pair of goggles and respirator that I keep in my workspace in the costume shop. Sometimes I might look a little over the top, but we deal with a lot of harmful chemicals that a lot of people take for granted. After years of working in jewelry workshops and sculpture studios, I've learned the importance of proper safety gear and, as people know, I will always tell someone (nicely) that they might want to consider some safety gear for particular activities, and I'm not ashamed of it. I love the Swedish bike helmet designs -- I read about that a couple weeks ago and thought it was really cool! There are so many great new textiles out there and with techno-fashion coming more and more to the forefront, I think we'll keep seeing some super creative ways to make staying safe more comfortable and stylish. Awesome.
Ugh, it is so frustrating to hear about all the injuries that could be prevented by wearing the correct PPE. I mean seriously, is wearing shop glasses that difficult? I understand that certain situations require less accessible and more advanced PPE such as N95 respirators, but the expectation to protect yourself should not change.
It is irresponsible to yourself and to your coworkers to work unsafely or in a dangerous fashion. I would hope that every craftsman or employee working with potentially harmful materials will educate themselves on the danger of what they are working with and how they can protect themselves.
Hmm, not sure how I feel about this article. It seemed like it was trying to "wake people up" to the importance of protective gear however all of those statics really did not do anything for me. They were not that sup rising and they did not mention what percent of those statics are true because of lack of proper safety equipment. For all we know more than half of those injuries could have occur even with protective gear. I think if this article had taken a different direction, such as finding three or four tragic stories about how peoples lives were drastically changed for the worse because of a lack in protective gear then it would have been a much stronger article. The parts detailing how to stay safe for certain body areas, although somewhat boring and obvious, were nice reminders however.
The one I am surprised didn't make the list of top injuries in the work place is the hands and fingers. Now, I understand that the hand and finger injuries are significantly less life threatening, but they still are a large part of workplace injuries. I know that people always put emphasis on head and eye protection by having hard hats and protective glasses around, but often times gloves and hand/foot protection is left out. I know of people who have lost several fingers in work related instances and they are now massive advocates for making sure that procedure and gear is provided in dealing with jobs that could possibly endanger phalanges.
This article not only points out how easily head injuries, especially eye related injuries, can be overcome, but it states a few important facts about standards. I have seen many individuals were their hardhats backwards, and now I can easily tell if that is acceptable to do so. Knowing simple things like the Type of hard hat and the symbols could easily help you, and your company, during incidents and law suits. Its important to always wear PPE, but also make sure it is the correct PPE and that you use it properly.
No mater what job I am working on safety is always my top concern. Injuries are very easy to occur, and are as easily avoidable. People just need to be smart and use the brains that they have been given. For those of us that think that they are too cool to wear their safety glasses, or think that you are being "hip" wearing that construction hat backwards, you are wrong. In fact, you are dumb. Just because you want to be cool you are going to risk your own safety. This is also why I think people can never not have enough knowledge about why we take the safety measures that we do.
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