Page 6 - April 2023 Track N Times

FEATURE STORY

The Importance of Hygiene
Protecting yourself from becoming the victim of a foreign body in your eye is more than just PPE, its personal hy-
giene. Let me say that in a different way, personal hygiene. Why do I stress that part? Because no one can do it for
you, and how you take care of yourself is the difference between working safely where FBE’s are not common and
seeing the Doc at an eye clinic. So, what are the basics?
A. Maintain your PPE: Particles already on the inside of your mask/goggles/glasses are just as big a threat
as anything the PPE protects you from.
B. Wear it right: Keep facial hair trimmed to allow the PPE to seal, keep hair covered and remove hair
coverings and shake off before removing PPE.
C. FBE’s are more than dust: Cleaning chemicals, fuels, hydraulic spray, there are a lot of reasons to
need FBE PPE.
D. Wipe off before you pull it off: The particles that become an FBE tend to collect on the top of mask/
goggles/glasses. Take a cleaning wipe and wipe your brow, get the gunk off the PPE and your forehead so it
doesn’t fall into your eyes, or run into them in sweat.

E. Don’t rinse towards your eyes: Get clean immediately after your shift, tilt your head back and rinse
away from your eyes so anything in your hair goes down the drain instead of into your eyes.
F. Clean means clothes: Re-worn clothing carries grind and rock dust. If something must be re-worn,
shake it out outside. The best answer is to wash things that might be carrying injury producing particles.

Focus: Discuss the hygiene practices that are most appropriate for the type of equipment you work on. Pay spe-
cial attention to teaching newer employees how to protect themselves from an FBE injury.

I-Care: If you see someone not using the proper Eye-Care PPE. Stop them and have an interaction
and put them on the path to safety excellence.
3M Respirator Grainger# A61279
3M Filter Cartridge Grainger # 3WZC1

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VOLUME 4 : ISSUE 3