Safety, Oct. 23, 2012

Thanks to your safety training, you identify potential hazards and determine what you must do to protect yourself from them. You de-energize, lock out, tag out, measure, wear the correct PPE, and then check everything again. But what about walking past live process equipment to get to where you'll be performing your assigned task? What about working near running equipment? In either case, a hazardous material could splash onto your clothes or your skin. Even worse, a hazardous material could splash into your eyes, even if your safety glasses have side shields (they aren't splash goggles). Now you have a serious problem. What should you do?

In the event of an eye splash, don't put your hands to your eyes. Walk very quickly to the nearest water fountain or eye wash and continue a sustained stream over your eyes until another person can time 15 minutes of flush. Don't rely on your own sense of timing; you're almost certain to underestimate the time. Then get medical attention immediately.