Page 5 - June 2020 Track N Times

SAFETY FOCUS

How Important Are Your Hands? by Christopher Locke, Manager Field Safety

How important are your hands?
A practical exercise. Seriously give it a try.

 Fold your thumbs into the palm of your hands.
 Now tie your shoes.

Its not so easy is it? I wanted you to try that exercise for
two reasons.
The first reason is to raise your awareness of what life
could be like if you loose function of a part of your hands.
Hand injuries are difficult to repair because of the complexi-
ty of the hand. After a hand injury, the hand may not func-
tion as it did before the injury due to loss of: motion, dex-
terity, grip and the ability to complete the simplest of task.

The second reason is that hand injuries are still one of the
highest areas of injury here at LORAM. The most common
causes of hand injuries are: carelessness, lack of awareness,
boredom, disregard for safety procedures and distractions.
In the WORD for June I am sending out the Glove Guide
and the entire Don’t Lose Your Digits program. As you
know gloves are a required part of your PPE. Your gloves
do in fact prevent minor injuries and reduce the severity of
more significant injuries. But your focus needs to be in re-
moving the hazard that could cause the injury to begin with.
Removing the hazard is always your first line of defense and
your gloves are the last line of defense. If a pass rusher
sacks the quarterback on every pass attempt the defensive back has an easy job. In that analogy removing the haz-
ard is your pass rusher and your gloves are the defensive back.

How can we reduce hand injuries? It is in the hazards you identify when doing a 5 Step. It is in the focus you have
when performing a task. It is in how you teach and mentor others.

Use your first line of defense and remove the hazard before each and every task and keep your hands out of
the line of fire.

PAGE 3 JUNE 2020