Safety Alert
Our
insurance agent at SCA made a requested to raise
awareness about working with wet cement. While
pouring cement, a client of SCA had an employee
suffer a laceration to his hand which required
stitches. The employee was immediately sent to an
emergency room for treatment of the laceration. At
the medical facility stitches were applied to the
laceration. Everything at this time seemed normal
and the employee was released. The problems did not
arise until later when the employee started to
experience pain and discomfort in his arm. A follow
up exam revealed that chemicals from the cement had
entered the employee’s blood stream causing an
infection. The infection was so severe that the
employee was given news of the potential loss of his
arm. All this caused by a small amount of wet
cement which entered the person’s body through the
open wound. What can we do as ICM employees to
prevent this risk?
- Always wash any body part
which comes in contact with the cement. The
obvious locations are the hands, arms, face and
eyes but your feet are also at risk.
- Any open skin should be
protected at all times and thoroughly cleaned
upon completion of working with cement.
- Should you suffer a
laceration when working with cement, get
immediate first aid started, clean the area
thoroughly!
- Any laceration which
requires medical treatment should be addressed
immediately. Provide information to the Dr.
about your work activity and the cement that you
were exposed to. Voice your concern about
having the wound properly cleaned before sutures
are applied.
These are all things that
should be covered after an exposure but in reality
we should be doing things prior to working with
cement to prevent injury.
- Wear all required PPE when
working around cement, to include gloves, safety
glasses, face shield etc. and rubber boots if
standing in the cement.
- During form setting, make
sure there are no sharp edges present from
protruding nails or wire.
It
is always easier to take the necessary steps to
prevent an injury than to deal with the unknown
consequences of an injury.
Questions? Please contact the Safety Director
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