Stop right now and put your hands behind your back. Try to type. Try to answer your phone. What about scratching your nose? Our hands are very important in our everyday lives and at work, so it’s important we don’t take them for granted.
From improper handling of machinery to contact with dangerous chemicals, traumatic hand injuries can occur from a wide range of sources and activities. Even if you don’t touch or use anything dangerous at your job, repetitive motion can cause injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
The primary cause of these injuries is due to equipment not performing as expected. Often those injuries are easily prevented by simply wearing the right protective gloves. By ensuring employees are trained on and understand the equipment they’re working with, most hand injuries can be easily avoided.
You can protect your hands in the workplace by following these simple steps:
- Keep your hands where you can see them.
- Perform tasks safely rather than quickly.
- Follow safety procedures properly every time.
- Wear gloves that fit and are right for the job.
- Remove rings, jewelry, or loose clothing when working with moving objects.
- Keep guards on machinery and power tools.
- Check tools and equipment to make sure they are working properly.
Some threats to workers’ hands may be less obvious than the clear danger that machines and tools present. It is important to analyze your workplace environment and not overlook less obvious threats like:
- Repetitive motion-induced hand injuries (typing, working on a cash register, fruit picking, assembly line work, etc.).
- Puncture wounds due to common items found in employee break rooms- (knives, kitchen items, etc.).
- Chemical burns from cleaning with workplace chemicals.
- Electrical burns from touching or moving faulty wires, etc.
Of all the tools we work with every day—from power tools or heavy machinery to a keyboard and mouse—our hands are the two most important tools we’ll ever use.
You only get two hands to work with. Take care of them.