ABC Safety Glasses Archive Page
Monday, March 26, 2007
Being safe on the job will become second nature to you once you learn the basics of scanning your working environment for possible hazards.

Falling Objects - An injury caused by the impact of a falling object can be devastating, even more so if you're not wearing a hard hat as you could incur a sever brain injury or even lose your life.** Head Protection
Make it a habit to walk your area of the job site whenever you have a free moment and look for unbalanced or uneven loads that could fall and cause an injury. If your crew is working above ground, make sure people aren't balancing heavy tools on beams. A simple wrench dropped from a height of 25 feet could kill someone if it struck them in the head. If you see a potential hazard call attention to it, you may save someone's life. Many companies now have adopted a policy where every employee is given a small area to patrol periodically and look for safety hazards. In doing so, an entire company can be patrolled and this practices generally lessens on the job injuries.

Burns
Burns are another cause of on the job injuries that could be prevented in most cases. Make sure anyone working with torches or hot objects is wearing proper safety gear. Just because they only need to spot weld one place and it will only take a couple of minutes is no reason to skimp on gloves or facial protection.

Cuts and Abrasions -
A cut can be a simple thing to patch up on the job site or a deep gash that needs major medical attention and can even cause the loss of a finger or other serious injury. People that work with sharp metal and glass are the most prone to slices and cuts. ** Work Gloves Fortunately, there are specialized gloves that will help you avoid cuts on your hands due to their special design that repels sharp objects whenever they hit the glove, without compromising fit, comfort or grip.

Inhaling Substances -
Your lungs weren't meant to breath anything but air. However, when working in a warehouse or construction site, you may be exposed to substances from asbestos in old home and building renovation services to heavy dust and dirt particles in warehouses. It's is important that you protect yourself from breathing particles as they can get trapped in the lining of your lungs and cause severe health problems or even cancer up to ten and twenty years later. ** Respirators
Wearing a respirator that covers your nose and mouth as well as eye protection that completely encases your eyes is a must. Covering your skin as much as possible is another safety precaution and do not wash your work clothes with other clothes from the family or your own casual clothing. Those items should be laundered separately to prevent cross contamination of particles and the washing machine should have cycle of hot water and bleach run through it after your work clothing has been washed to ensure all particles that can cause harm are gone.

Follow these safety basics and you'll keep your job site as well as your family safe. There are hazards in every job, being alert on the job will keep you or one of your co-workers from becoming an on the job injury statistic.