subject: Working First Aid [print this page] For the present work environment, the possibility of exposure to potentially hazardous situations, dangerous chemicals and/or blood and body fluids cannot be ignored. In various industrial facilities, medical establishments, offices, laboratories, as well as medical establishments, manufacturing plants, schools and vehicles, the possibility of exposure to such risks is present. Thus, being prepared for emergencies becomes the key to reducing unnecessary exposure to a multitude of hazards. Facilities would do well to take steps to secure first aid kits.
An assessment of workplace hazard is necessary to gauge the potential risks that employees run. As such, employers should exhaust all possible means of engineering and work practice controls that may help reduce hazards. Individuals who work in an industrial setting are especially in danger of incurring injuries to their hands and arms. In these situations, the risks often cannot be averted, even with engineering and work practice controls in place.
In choosing the appropriate first aid kit, various factors must be kept in mind in order to select the proper kit. One of these would be the type of industry the facility belongs to. Enterprises involved in mining, for instance, may have particular regulations which would include certain specialized instructions specific to their industry. Another factor would be the kind of hazards to be found in the workplace. Different kinds of hazardous materials would pose different health risks, which in turn would require different medical responses. The number of employees in the area should also be considered, as well as the location of the workplace, and its relative distance to medical service establishments.
In situations where first aid is needed, the people involved would most likely need to use sharp instruments, some of which are needles and scalpels. Caution should be practiced when handling these kinds of medical equipment. For the purposes of universal precautions, sharp objects which become contaminated with blood are designated as sharps. Should an employee receive a cut from a piece of metal or broken glass, for instance, that piece is considered potentially infectious.
When it comes to disposing sharps, it must be kept in mind that these need to be placed into containers which are puncture-resistant. The containers also should clearly be labeled as bio-hazardous waste. After the use of needles and scalpels, these instruments should be disposed of and must not be re-capped. Items that have been contaminated with blood or body fluids are required to be placed in proper containers with labels indicating them as bio-hazardous waste.
The pursuit of maintaining safety, productivity and cleanliness in the workplace should remain a top priority for establishments. In this regard, DAWG has endeavored to provide products and services over the course of more than twenty years. From its beginnings as a small spill control company, DAWG has become a large multi-brand supplier of products which are specially made for industrial safety, personal protection and building maintenance. DAWG offers a variety of first aid kits that provide security and protection specific to a particular establishment.
