A recent 'gloves-on' trial at the Scunthorpe branch of leading social housing repairs and maintenance specialist Mears has demonstrated the impact a mandatory glove policy could have in significantly reducing hand injuries throughout the company.
Implemented over a three month period, gloves were worn by all operatives carring out all site activities, without exception. The result saw the branch reduce recorded hand injury incidents from one a month last year to just one in the three month period.
Rupert Chambers, Regional SHE (Safety, Health and Environment) Manager for Mears, said: "Although not surprising, the results from the trial have further endorsed our belief that wearing gloves is essential from a health and safety perspective. The main challenge is educating employees on why they need to wear gloves," continued Rupert, "but if the trial has been as successful as expected, then we will definitely consider rolling this out as a nationwide, mandatory policy."
Hand injuries accounted for 56 per cent of injuries sustained on Mears sites around the country in 2008 - 72% of these came in the form of cuts or lacerations that may have been prevented by the use of gloves. David Lloyd, Branch Manager of Mears Scunthorpe, said: "We identified a worrying trend of hand injuries here at the Scunthorpe branch, and a gloves-on policy was the obvious and sensible way to tackle this problem."