The Masonry Research to Practice Partnership Wants You to Choose Hand Safety

JOURNAL: ISSUE 1 - 2014

Why should BAC members and contractors care about hand safety? The answer is simple; hand injuries and illnesses can be painful, have a negative impact on the quality of work and productivity, be costly, and even end careers. Each year, there are thousands of work-related hand injuries, with an estimated cost to the construction industry in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2010, for example, roughly 1 out of every 5 construction workers experienced a hand, wrist or finger injury that resulted in days away from work. Such injuries are a leading reason why workers end up in the emergency room. One study, conducted over a 7-year period of nonfatal injuries among construction workers who were seen at George Washington University's Emergency Department, found that fingers and hands were the most-injured body parts, accounting for one-third of emergency room visits. About 15 percent of these injuries were amputations, partial amputations, crushes and fractures.

"We selected this as one of the Partnership's priorities because everyone has a role and interest in hand safety," says Fred Kinateder, President of the International Council of Employers of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (ICE), "but what we found was that it's not always easy for workers to find information on how to make safe hand tool selections or for contractors to identify the appropriate gloves to use. Just because a hand tool says it's ergonomically designed doesn't mean it's going to automatically be the safest choice for every worker."

"Through surveys, members told us they are concerned about hand safety and want information on how to select hand tools to avoid injuries," says BAC Executive Vice President Gerard Scarano. "But when we reviewed the research on hand tool ergonomics, we found that much of the information was fairly generic, and just making the claim that a tool is ergonomic isn't sufficient."

The same was true when the Partnership began looking into providing guidance for contractors on how to select the best gloves for their projects. "We soon learned that the level of detail provided on Safety Data Sheets varied, sometimes significantly," says Kinateder. "Some specify the generic type of glove to use, others list a few different types without indicating which should be the top choice, and the rest just say 'use gloves' – not particularly helpful for busy contractors."

With funding from CPWR and NIOSH, the Partnership solicited input from contractors, members and instructors through BAC's Craft Committees, surveys and discussion, and worked with safety and health researchers to develop information on hand safety, including industry-specific hand tool and glove selection criteria for use by individuals and in training programs.

"Given the large number and variety of hand tools and products used by the different masonry trades, we realized that it wouldn't be possible to include everytool and every product," says IMI President Joan Calambokidis. "Our goal was to develop information for those identified as most commonly used, and present it in a flexible, accessible format so that members and contractors can readily find the level and type of information to meet their individual needs."

The end result is the new www.ChooseHandSafety.org website. The site includes detailed information on how to measure your hand to determine if a hand tool is the right size for you, criteria for selecting hand tools, and a database of hand tool measurements to use as a point of reference when selecting tools. The "gloves" section covers requirements for when gloves should be provided and used, and contains a database that can be searched by craft and task to find examples of commonly used products and chemicals, the top generic glove choices, and examples of commercially available gloves. In addition, there are links to other searchable online glove databases and resources.

The safety and health sections present information on how to identify and prevent hand injuries and skin dermatitis, and the training sections contain related materials, including tool box talks, handouts, videos, and presentations. "The hands on skills training we provide is a great opportunity to use this information to raise awareness of potential hand hazards and preventive measures, says IMI National Director of Training and Apprenticeship Bob Arnold. "Our instructors can steer workers towards tools that are properly sized for their hands and the work they're doing, and teach them when and how to properly use gloves to avoid injuries such as burns and contact dermatitis. Contractors can then use the related tool box talks to reinforce the training message and the importance of hand safety."

To ensure the site includes information of value to members and contractors, there's a Feedback section where comments and questions can be submitted. Take time to visit the website, share your thoughts on how we can improve it, and most importantly Choose Hand Safety.