Page 941 - Xmo Strata - Bulletin Archive
P. 941
Health, Safety & Environmental Bulletin No 346
7 March 2013
Cut Finger
Please see enclosed self-explanatory bulletin that was shared with us by Johnson Controls.
This incident highlights the need to always carry out a last minute risk assessment before any task, and
to consider the hierarchy of controls. PPE and gloves should be the last resort when choosing a control
measure, it is far too easy when you identify a sharp edge to just say that you will wear gloves.
Wearing gloves, whilst essential because it is a site rule, you should be considering how to eliminate,
reduce, isolate or control the risk and not just relying on the gloves; this may necessitate changing the
procedure or task; it may be that you can eliminate the risk of working near the sharp edge completely
by changing the way the job is done and that may prevent others from being hurt if you advise the
office and the JSA is changed.
If you find that any JSA, SMS, JHA, Risk Assessment or any other documented procedures could be
altered to further eliminate or reduce hazards, please let us know.
The statistics recently released by the HSE for the 2011/12 period show a significant number of serious
hand injuries:
In 2011/12, there were 18611 hand / finger injuries reported, 2987 of these were classified as major
injuries.
Cuts are also a common cause of injury, there were 10250 injuries resulting in lacerations or open
wounds, and two of those were fatal.
The routine decisions we make on a daily basis are often more as a force of habit than something we spend time
thinking about – looking before we cross the road, moving out of the way of falling objects etc. But what about
decisions that are just as important as these that we may think about, but choose to ignore – like seeing
someone doing something unsafe, or not eliminating a simple hazard when we spot it? These decisions are just
as important, and we want these to become just as instinctive as crossing the road. Please visit YouTube and
type ‘Xmo Strata reverse thinking’ into the search box – let’s make each decision count this year!
