Glass Shop Safety During the Pandemic

I know, you have your first aid kit and may have a defibrillator. You have gloves and may have a face shield. In our industry, this is certainly not enough. You need a fully trained first-aid responder on each shift at your company. If you send crews out, one person at a jobsite must be well-trained and have the first aid equipment in their truck. If you leave a gang-box at a jobsite, placing a first aid kit there is a good starting point. Every first-aider at your company should have a change of clothes at work. Any first-aider that has blood contact should be excused for the time needed to go home, shower and get fresh clothes.

Send your first-aid team for training with the Red Cross or another certified trainer in your area. Assign one person in your company to check first aid equipment at least weekly to make sure everything is in the first aid kit. Have first-aid practice drills, mimicking someone who is cut or has a puncture wound, someone with a broken leg or a hit on the head by falling glass or metal.

Every first aider should wear goggles, wear a face mask and have a full face shield on when approaching a downed employee, whatever the cause may be. Gloves are mandatory.

Let’s consider our industry. Most of the first-aid events occur based on a cut. I don’t have factual evidence of this, but I know it is true. This means blood on your co-worker, his clothes and the floor around him. You are probably going to be kneeling around him and will get this blood on your clothes. The hurt worker is breathing harder as they don’t know what to do next and are scared. Try to fit a mask around his face.

Keep other employees away unless they are definitely helping you. Does the employee need an ambulance or can he walk to a car to be taken to a walk-in clinic or emergency room? Practice this so your team knows what to do.

Maintain a list of every employee’s emergency contacts so family can be notified of a serious accident.

A first-aid event at your company causes other employees to mingle around, losing time and productivity. An event costs you money and may increase your worker’s comp insurance rates. An event may have long-lasting impact on other people in your work force.

What do you do? Practice and train everyone in your company to follow proper work techniques that avoid the accidents in the first place. This is the best result.

Now for the Shane Bieber report:

Cousin Shane is 7-1 for this 2020 season, having pitched 64.2 innings, with 102 strikeouts and only 16 walks. He has given up just six homers. His jaw-dropping era is 1.53. We Biebers from Cleveland just can’t be beat in the long run.