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Workplace hand injuries: Did you know PPE is the line of defense?
By: Superior Glove, leading safety glove innovator
Every year, millions of workers get injured on the job, and a significant number of reported occupational injuries are hand related. Depending on the severity, not only do these injuries have a huge medical cost associated with them but are also expensive in terms of lost productivity and wages. The good news is, hand injuries are the #1 preventable industrial accident. But if they're preventable, why are they still so common?
The truth is, reducing incidences of hand injuries in a workplace does not start with wearing the right-hand protection—though it is one of the necessary tools to prevent such occurrences.
PPE as the last line of defense
When viewed through the lens of the hierarchy of controls, personal protective equipment (PPE) is the last line of defense.
The hierarchy of controls identifies the safety controls many industries use to protect workers by minimizing or eliminating exposure to hazards. They start from the most effective measures at the top, to the least effective at the bottom. These include elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and PPE.
So why is PPE the last line of defense? Aren't gloves, sleeves, and other PPE important to protect workers from the risk of hazards?
The answer is not a simple yes or no. While PPE, like gloves, sleeves, offer protection against cuts, burns, abrasion, chemical, impact, crush, vibration, or other hazards, they cannot protect workers from all workplace dangers. This includes risks of prolonged exposures to hazards in their environment, injuries due to mishandling equipment, tripping, falling, and other risks that can be mitigated or eliminated using other control measures. That said, if all other controls fail, PPE may be the very thing that saves a worker from serious injury.
Essentially, it is important to follow the hierarchy in order, starting from the top, rather than choosing the easiest control measure. And while these controls can be implemented in phases over time, multiple levels of hierarchy can be adopted simultaneously depending on the company's logistical necessities. Though, no one step should be completely ignored to realize the true effects of this system. Ultimately, reducing the incidence of hand injuries in a workplace is best achieved through a process of reevaluating and redesigning your safety program using the hierarchy of controls. To learn about each stage of the hierarchy of controls in more detail, check out Workplace Safety: Why PPE is the Last Line of Defense.
Next Steps
If you're looking to overhaul hand safety at your company that addresses all safety controls, not only PPE, get started with Superior Glove's free onsite Hand Safety Program here.
About Superior Glove
Superior Glove is a leading innovator in the design and manufacture of safety gloves, sleeves, and complementary PPE. We believe that workers shouldn't have to choose between comfort and safety, so we innovate to fit the protection workers need into comfortable PPE they'll want to wear. We design and test hand safety products in-house to ensure quality and protection and offer free resources and services to help companies develop safety programs that go beyond PPE.
Superior Glove is headquartered in Ontario, Canada. We have team members across Canada, the United States, and Mexico serving customers globally. We own and operate four manufacturing facilities; three in Canada and one in Honduras —vertically integrated from fiber to final product in several categories.