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Hand protection
New glove styles make it easy to leave them on
How
many times have you witnessed a hand injury on your jobsite? How
many scars do you have on your hands from cuts, scrapes, burns and
impacts from personal wear and tear on the job?
It’s
an all-too-common occurrence. The Consumer Products Safety
Commission reports that annually, more than 115,000 Americans need
emergency room treatment from injuries related to hand tool use.
A
review of these injuries reveals that hand injuries are typically
traced to improper use or maintenance of hand tools. The most common
causes are improper tool use, lack of protective gloves or using
inappropriate accessories with the tool. Typical injuries are
puncture wounds, severed fingers, broken bones and bruises.
Tools on steroids
As
manufacturers refine hand and power tools to produce more power and
performance, that increase in performance can also increase the
user’s risk of injury if the tool is used incorrectly, says Eric
Jaeger, biomedical engineer at Ironclad, a performance glove
manufacturer. “Tools today deliver more performance than ever
before,” he says. “Professional grade tools can be heavier, are more
powerful and can require more skill to operate. The risk of injury
is higher.”
Hand
protection can greatly reduce injuries that result from tool use,
especially gloves that are more task-specific than the old-fashioned
cotton or leather glove styles. In fact, glove styles have evolved
into a field with scores of styles that are designed and
performance-matched to applications.
“Performance gloves have evolved tremendously in the last five
years,” says Ed Jaeger, Ironclad president. “There has been a big
education curve. The technology has been in equipment used in
racing, baseball and football and is just being adapted to more
mainstream occupations like construction. Workers think nothing of
spending $150 for protective footwear. Why not consider better
protection for your hands?”
OSHA requirements
OSHA
requires employers to assess the hazards associated with every job,
and hand protection is something that can be overlooked. From cuts
to vibration dampening to improving grip, glove styles can help
workers address the tasks that can cause hand injuries.
“Glove design is an iterative process,” explains Eric. “Glove
designs get upgraded every year, based on user feedback in the
field. We have 29 gloves styles in our line, each one resulting from
user feedback,” he says.
Look for fit
Ed Jaeger says the main reason users get hand injuries, even when
their employers mandate glove use, is because the gloves don’t fit
well and inhibit hand and finger movement needed to do the job.
“Most workers use gloves that are cumbersome and sloppy. Durability
is not as big of an issue as comfort and usability,” he says.
“For
example, cut-proof gloves were designed in such a way that it was
more like wearing an oven mitt. Workers ended up removing them, and
as a result, getting cut from handling sharp material. A more supple
glove offers the dexterity and protection they need, so they will
continue to wear it,” he says.
To
get a proper fit, rely on the glove manufacturer’s sizing chart. A
glove that doesn’t fit correctly will compromise the protection it
offers.
There is one other benefit to wearing task-specific performance
gloves; Jaeger calls it the “cool factor.”
“When workers wear these gloves, they often get noticed by other
workers. When the gloves are comfortable, fit well and help them do
their jobs better, they create a buzz on the jobsite.
“Many times, workers wearing these gloves become disciples of them.
They even volunteer to test new styles we develop that include the
suggestions they make,” Eric concludes.
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Five-finger discount
Glove cuts workers’ compensation premiums for glass installer
You could say Minnesota-based Harmon
Glass‚ the largest U.S. full-service building glass installation,
maintenance and renovation company, was on the cutting edge three
years ago, but not in a good way. Workers handling glass during
preparation and installation were suffering too many cuts to the
hands. And like a five-finger discount, the losses were bleeding
money from the company’s bottom line.
Cuts to the hand are one of the most
frequent types of recordable hand injuries in construction and
manufacturing. Although most hand injury claims appear to be
relatively insignificant, safety professionals at Harmon Glass found
the impact of these injuries had a dramatic effect on its business.
“The perception of these claims as
relatively minor incidents just isn’t accurate,” says Allan Burke,
executive safety manager at Harmon Glass. “Even a single stitch in
the hand constitutes a recordable injury, and a couple years ago,
our accident injury rates were going up as a result of the spike in
incidents,” he says.
Harmon Glass bids for work, and the
contractors it works for are very interested in the company’s
recordable injury rate. “If we are starting to creep up or go over
the SIC code average, they don’t take highly to it. We have lost
jobs because our injury rate is higher than what our SIC code
average would be,” says Burke.
Problem identified
When millions in lost potential revenue were
traced back to accident rates, Burke says the company was bleeding more than
just medical costs with each hand injury. On average, each recordable hand
injury cost the company more than $10,000, with only $250 of that cost directly
related to the medical costs of stitching and treating the wound.
In response to the injury spike, Burke
implemented a company-wide mandate requiring all installers to use
performance gloves. That affected approximately 750 field and shop
employees across the country.
Installers began wearing Ironclad’s Box
Handler gloves, which have a silicone-based, super-tacky palm and
fingertips. This glove design gives employees superior control when
handling materials like glass, metal, wood or cardboard.
After a year of performance glove use,
Harmon Glass employees realized a dramatic reduction in cuts to
hands, reducing hand injuries by more than 66 percent. This reduced
the company’s accident rating to 5.2, which is well below the SIC
code average rating of 7.5. That reduced its workers’ compensation
premiums from $2 million to $750,000 annually.
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Glove anatomy
Today’s performance gloves are much more than leather
and/or cloth sewn together. Natural and man-made materials are
engineered into a system that’s built for comfort, dexterity and
protection.
This isn’t a complete list of glove features and
materials. New styles are being introduced fast, so look at what’s
available at your distributor. You’ll be surprised by how many
styles are designed specifically for construction applications.
Here’s what you’ll find in many styles of performance gloves:
Palms
Depending on the glove, you’ll find goatskin leather
for comfort and durability, staying supple even after repeated
washing. Synthetic leathers may also be used because they are
breathable and hold up to tough use and many washings.
Other gloves use highly abrasion-resistant materials
for jobs such as framing or handling concrete block. For extreme
applications, rubber may be bonded to a synthetic leather for even
greater palm protection. For material/box handling, silicone is
impregnated on synthetic leather, offering a tacky surface for
greater gripping. Palms may be reinforced or padded with other
materials to dampen vibration and increase wear at critical points.
Surface treatments may be used to help repel oil, water and heat.
Others have a texture on the palm that interlocks
with a grip material wrapped onto a tool. It creates an excellent
grip, reducing the pressure the user needs to exert to maintain tool
control.
Fingers
Fabric selection and finger assembly can greatly
influence dexterity with the glove. A roll-top fingertip
construction eliminates fingertip seams for greater dexterity.
Knuckle protection may be sewn into the fingers,
using various materials – even Kevlar. Abrasion-resistant, yet
highly stretchable fabrics may be used in the finger sides for
greater dexterity. Some gloves leave the thumb, pointer finger and
middle finger or all five fingers exposed for fine-touch tasks.
Material handling gloves incorporate silicone or other treatments to
improve grip. Other gloves have reinforced fingers for greater
durability.
Palm tops
Depending on the application, this may be made of the
same material as the palm or a stretchable, breathing fabric that
helps pull moisture away from the skin for greater comfort. For
cold-weather wear, it may be an insulated windproof material for
warmth. Reinforcement may be added for greater hand protection. Some
gloves have a terry cloth section on the upper palm so workers can
use it to wipe sweat off their brow.
Cuffs
The job-specific cuffs are designed to protect the
wrist and help keep the glove comfortable. Many have hook-and-loop
style closures for easy donning and a secure fit once it’s on. Some
have a gauntlet style cuff which offers greater wrist protection.
Some have a pull-tab that allows the user to tug the
glove on and off easily. Others provide double-wrapped wrist support
for carrying jobs.
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Published in the
January/February 2006 issue of
Contractor Tools and Supplies magazine.
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