Hazards Demand Proper Protection
- By Donald F. Groce
- Sep 15, 2008
Gloves are the first line of defense for many necessary tasks in our hazardous world.
With new hazards emerging weekly, ensuring
safer, more secure environments
is more challenging than ever before.
The importance of Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE) is constantly being brought to the
forefront by natural disasters, such as wildfires, flooding
in America’s heartland, tornados, and hurricanes; as well
as health concerns about pathogenic microorganisms,
such as MRSA and H5N1 virus (avian flu).
Protecting consumers’ and workers’ hands from
contaminants is a key aspect of any cleanup or response
effort. There are specific protective features to consider,
depending on the situation and materials encountered.
Naturally Occurring Disasters
It is evident that cleanup from flooding and other natural
disasters will be an ongoing issue. In the recent
flooding, many chemical companies along the Mississippi
were flooded. Debris from municipal sewage is always
a big concern when large areas are flooded, and
mold in flooded homes and businesses can become a
serious health problem. Any remediation effort requires
that workers wear proper protective masks,
gloves, and garments.
Often, the same type of gloves may be used for the
administration of medical relief, food services, remediation,
and reconstruction efforts. For example, disposable
natural rubber latex (NRL), nitrile, or even
vinyl gloves may be suitable for protecting all workers.
However, it is always a good idea to seek the most
qualified products with the highest level of protection
required for each task, whether it be food service, first
aid administration, rescue, recovery, demolition, or
reconstruction.
For tasks such as these, the National Fire Protection
Association has assembled technical committees
from all aspects of emergency medical operations, as
well as hazardous materials incidents, to devise standards
designed to protect rescuers (both the first responder
and the first receiver). Gloves that are NFPA
1999 Certified for emergency medical services must
pass a series of applicable tests in an independent,
third-party certification laboratory. They must provide
a specific level of protection or performance level
for each key criterion, such as fit, dexterity, protection
from viral penetration, protein levels, rubber properties,
and puncture resistance.
As floodwaters recede, cleanup efforts change. The
clearing of debris requires a much different set of protective
gear: general purpose, heavy-duty work gloves
and cut-resistant gloves with excellent abrasion resistance
and a long usable life.
It is important to remember that no glove offers protection
from a moving or serrated blade. However, for
conditions that may result from the long use of items
such as chainsaws, where repetitive motion injuries may
occur, a vibration-dampening glove can lessen the impact
of such injuries. Manufacturers also offer lightly
coated, thinner, better-fitting gloves that provide abrasion
resistance and cut resistance for demanding jobs,
such as construction.
Thinner gloves allow the worker to do many tasks
for which he previously took the gloves off to gain dexterity.
They encourage workers to wear them longer and
for more tasks so that injuries are reduced and, in many
cases, eliminated.
MRSA: Today’s Threatening Super-Bug
Natural disasters are one threat. New super-bugs are
another. Although bird flu has not mutated in a form
contagious in human beings, a mutated form of the
common bacterium Staph is spreading throughout the
United States: Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus
Aureus (MRSA).
Years of prescribing and over-prescribing penicillin-based
antibiotics have resulted in mutation of Staph
into a virulent form that resists common antibiotics
and causes severe, sometimes disfiguring, skin infections
that can spread to other body systems and may
cause fatal infections. The U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) recently estimated
MRSA will cause more deaths than AIDS this year.One
of the problems with an organism such as MRSA is that
it is endemic. Common Staph lives on the skin or in the noses of 25 to 30 percent of the population
and exists in people who are not sick.
Although not generally categorized as a
pandemic, MRSA is worldwide, and the
problem is growing. Reporting is not
mandatory, and public health figures show
that it is drastically under-reported. Public
health agencies agree the criteria for MRSA
reporting are too stringent. Many hospitals
now screen patients for MRSA upon admittance.
The number of cases they are seeing
is cause for major concern.
Hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA)
has been a problem in hospitals and nursing
homes for years. Community-acquired
MRSA has now surfaced and is in the headlines
every day as whole school systems shut
down to disinfect and decontaminate when
infections occur.
This article originally appeared in the September 2008 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.