Hand and finger injuries are the most common type of incidents in the oil and gas industry. However, this type of injury can be avoided with proper care and the right Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).
The majority of workers who experience finger or hand injuries did not wear protective gloves. Workers must be aware of the risks involved in the work and must be offered guidance to protect them. You can educate and reinforce the importance of using personal protection equipment to maximize hand protection even in harsh environments.
1. Become Aware Of The Site
It is crucial to be aware of the potential dangers and hazardous elements present around you. This will be helpful in protecting yourself better. If you lead a team of workers, it’s best if you visit the field and identify the hazardous elements in the field and come up with ways to protect yourself and your team of workers.
2. Identify The Safety Needs
You can go onsite and inspect the work environment, and perform a hand safety site analysis to identify the most essential hand safety requirements for the workers.
You can look for things such as:
Are there any potential dangers for pinching injuries, crush, blunt-force impact on hands due to any activity?
Are any of the hazardous elements avoidable?
Are there any injuries or serious abrasions to the hands of the workers?
Are the workers exposed to extreme temperatures or work that involves putting their hands in very cold or hot substances?
You can survey the site and prepare a plan to overcome the problematic situations and maximise the safety of the workers.
3. Set Guidelines And Procedures
Hand safety objectives can be achieved by communicating the guidelines and procedures to maintain hand safety on-site with the workers. Laying out well-defined policies on hand safety will enable the employees to follow and comply with them. You can consider standardizing gloves usage on-site to prevent hazardous situations to a great extent.
Moreover, you should spread awareness regarding the risks and dangers of working without gloves. It ensures that all workers take necessary precautions to ensure maximum hand safety on site.
4. Choose The Right Protection Equipment
The majority of hand injuries occur because of damage, insufficient or misapplied protection. It is vital to choose the right-hand protection and wear it properly to maximize protection.
5. Select Hand Protection Specific To The Requirement
Oil fields and industries have harsh working conditions and environments. Workers working physically demanding tasks must be equipped with the right kind of safety equipment. First, you should be aware of the environment and the risks involved in the task. Then you can find out the composition and high-performance materials used in developing the personal protection equipment. This information will help you in finding out the right kind of gloves or hand protection equipment for the right kind of job. You can choose from various kinds of gloves, hand safety grabit, push pull pole, all pole, and several other hand protection tools whichever tool meets your needs.
6. Keep Hand Safety Awareness A Priority
Before implementing any safety awareness program for the protection of employees, you must train and communicate the procedures with the employees for ensuring their involvement. You may start with big picture programs or toolbox talks where you can discuss the use of various safety tools on a regular basis.
Employee involvement plays a vital role in the implementation of safety policies. The safety policies can be implemented successfully only with maximum employee participation. You can also encourage the employees to come up with new ideas to maximize their safety on site.
7. Maintain Your Personal Protection Equipment In Good Condition
It is essential to buy good quality protection equipment so that it lasts for a while. However, it is also important to maintain your personal protective equipment in good condition. If you take care of your equipment then it will perform well whenever you need it.
Hand gloves require less maintenance but they must be stored properly to maintain their shape and provide maximum protection to hands. Some gloves require cold wash while some can be washed in machines with a mild detergent. If you use leather gloves then you must wash them by hand.
Regardless of the time of gloves and their washing method, every glove must be aired dried. It ensures the shape of the glove and prolongs its life. Before wearing your gloves to perform an activity, you must always check their condition to avoid any danger.
In case you use any hand protection tools, you should follow the cleaning and storage instructions provided by the manufacturer to prolong their life.
8. Buy High-Performance Safety Tools
Safety tools are not expensive and last very long if proper care is taken. But cheaper and low-quality tools will not last long and may not provide maximum protection. It is advisable to buy good quality and high-performance safety equipment from a licensed oilfield and industrial supplies dealer and supplier.
If you are looking to buy Oilfield and Industrial Supplies such as lubricants, chemicals, RIG tools, RIG spare parts, and PPE for your operations, then Triune is your best option. Get high-quality supplies at competitive prices delivered to your location.
Get in touch with us here or call at +971 55 7489871 and stack your oilfield and industrial supplies!