SMDC Safety: Protect Your Hands from Hazards

By U.S. Army Combat Readiness/Safety CenterJanuary 20, 2016

SMDC Safety: Protect Your Hands from Hazards
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People probably take their hands for granted until they have an injury. Then they will know just how difficult life can be without the full use of their hands.

In the workplace there are many hazards to people's hand safety: Equipment that cuts and crushes materials can also mangle hands; There are rough surfaces which can scrape the skin; Hot and cold materials can cause thermal burns; Chemicals can corrode the skin or enter the body through the skin and cause poisoning; Infectious materials can cause disease; Electrical current which contacts the skin can cause fatal shocks; and other types of hand injuries are caused over a period of time -- by impact, strain or vibration.

Many styles of glove are available for different jobs. To protect yourself against hand hazards, it is important to select the right kind of personal protective equipment such as gloves. Ask your safety supervisor for guidance in choosing and fitting gloves.

Here is just a small sampling of the choices you have for gloves in some common work environments:

• Cold Weather: Gloves made of leather, insulated plastic or rubber, wool or cotton are usually worn.

• Working with Chemicals and Fluids: Natural rubber, neoprene and rubber are the most common materials these protective gloves are made of. Check the chemical's Material Safety Data Sheet, or MSDS, to find out the requirements for these kinds of safety gloves. If unsure of what the MSDS says, ask a supervisor for help.

• Cuts or Sharp Edges: Reinforced heavy rubber, heavy leather gloves, Kevlar gloves or metal mesh gloves are a common choice when working with equipment that could cause serious cuts or have sharp edges. In lighter industrial settings, perhaps rubber, plastic, leather or cotton gloves may be all that is needed.

• Electricity: Rubber-insulating gloves tested for protection to a certain voltage are a good choice. Besides gloves, all other precautions should be used.

• Heat: Depending on how high the temperature, choices ranging from Kevlar to heat resistant leather gloves could provide the best protection.

• Perspiration: Cotton gloves offer the best protection if a person tends to get sweaty palms while they are working.

• Radiation: Lead-lined rubber, plastic or leather gloves are common choices in this situation.

Besides wearing the right personal protective equipment for hands, there are some other things people can do to maintain hand safety on the job:

• Use care when working around moving equipment, as well as power or hand tools. Use machine guards correctly to prevent contact with moving parts or stock.

• Certain injuries can develop over a period of time. They are caused by repetitive strain, or by repeated impact or vibration. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a common example of such an injury. It occurs when the worker performs the same hand motions all day, as in the case of a computer keyboard operator or an assembly worker.

To help to prevent these injuries, keep your hands and wrists in a comfortable "neutral" position. Take frequent, short rest breaks to relax hands and wrists. Use tools which are specially designed to prevent repetitive strain and impact.

Hands make it possible for people to work, so take good care of them.

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