5 Tips to Help Reduce Hand Injuries in Construction

At Your Glove Source, we care about your hands, and want them to stay injury free as much as possible. The construction industry is one area where there is an extremely high number of hand injuries every year; over 5 employees per group of 100 per year! And these statistics become even more startling when the number of employees is taken into account. On average, construction companies with less than 100 employees have a 40% increase in the likelihood of hand injuries among employees. All this to say, we want to provide some handy and easy to implement tips that can help your construction company and employees avoid hand injuries.
 
  1. Sleep and Move
 
Research has shown that three major factors that play into injury rates are sleep disorders, young age, and smoking. A lack of physical exercise significantly increases these three risk factors. The more that your employees arrive to work well rested and well exercised, the less their chance of experiencing a hand injury will be.
 
  1. Provide Proper Training
 
Once again, there are statistics to back up the importance of company wide training. Employees who receive proper training about safety procedures and company protocol, are 42% less likely to get injured and file a claim. In order to keep employees safe, and keep the work environment efficient, it is vital to conduct the proper training so that employees know what is expected of them and how they can accomplish that.
 
  1. Change up the Work Flow
 
Especially in the high stress and tight deadline environment of a construction site, it can be difficult to remember the importance of task variety and short breaks. However, allowing employees the opportunity to either take a break, or switch tasks, or both will help to reduce the risk of injury from repeated strain. After a break from the use of certain equipment, like a jack hammer, it will then be safer for the employee to return to that task later without as much risk for hand injury.
 
  1. Safety is #1
 
Studies have shown that construction companies who establish an in-house safety program in addition to standard OSHA regulations will see less injuries among employees, because the safety guidelines are more tailored to the real-life situations that employees are facing. It has also been shown that having a safety manager “on the floor” also helps to reduce hand injuries among employees. By pushing safety to the top of your values and priorities list in your construction company, you will see a reduction in hand injuries.

 

  1. Get Better Gloves

 

One of the easiest and quickest ways to improve the safety of your employees is by investing in high quality work gloves. While higher quality gloves may cost a little more, they are well worth it as they are made to be more durable and last longer, and will eliminate the cost of injured workers. Some great options for your construction site are these Samurai Cut Resistant gloves, or these Samurai Cowhide gloves.

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