Getting a Better Handle on Hand Safety
Exploring the unique complexities of hand injuries in the workplace and actionable steps to drive prevention and improvement.
- By Robert Pater
- Oct 11, 2023
Hand injuries can be, well, a handful. As I write this column, I have received inquiries for help in preventing ongoing hand injuries within the last two days. These requests came from an “upstream” oil industry company in the United States and from the Brazilian business unit of a global manufacturer.
While more prevalent in some industries, hand injuries can affect almost everyone. And these are notoriously difficult to get a handle on for good reasons. We’ve found that it’s relatively easy to make sizable and lasting improvements in soft-tissue injuries (strains and sprains), followed by not-quite-as-eye-popping reductions in slips/trips and falls.
However, hand injuries are the most challenging to reduce. Why? It’s a matter of number of exposures. In our experience, many people lift/push/pull/carry/use tools on the order of tens or sometimes hundreds of times a day (soft-tissue injury exposures.) Many take thousands of steps daily (risks of slips/trips/falls.) But people likely make tens of thousands of finger/hand/wrist/arm motions during their day. And because the hands are most in contact with tools and equipment, these have increased first-acting and first-responder acute injury risks — not to mention the buildup of cumulative trauma.
For example, have you seen issues like these:
- Someone immediately and unconsciously reaching — dangerously — for something that has fallen or “gone wrong” (maybe a falling heavy or sharp object or a tool that is jammed? Reflexively reaching out a hand to “protect” the rest of their body from impact, a cutting edge, or other hazard after even a slight stumble?
- Cumulative, even-somewhat-misaligned motions that build into discomfort, pain and weakness, and that in turn can cascade into a seemingly “acute” incident?
- Loss of attention of being misdirected or distracted, daydreaming, or focused on an area of discomfort?
- Someone overusing their dominant hand so that their off-hand can be almost “out of sight, out of mind” and therefore overly vulnerable?
- Overuse of the dominant hand to the point that force overconcentrates in one limb — and then in one side of the body?
- Bracing when fatigued — but in a “wrong” (and thus a high-risk) place or position?
This article originally appeared in the October 2023 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.