March is National Poison Prevention Month, and that makes this a great time to train your workers on how to avoid poisons at work—and how to avoid taking poisonous substances home. Our Safety Training Tips editor says to start with the basics.
Overexposure to certain materials we work with can cause health problems. There are three ways these materials can get into our bodies:
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Inhaling hazardous airborne vapors, dusts, or fibers can be harmful to health. Effects range from headaches, nausea, and respiratory problems to far more serious—sometimes even fatal—ailments.
- Swallowing hazardous substances can poison you or cause serious internal damage. Though you’re unlikely to actually drink a hazardous substance, you could swallow it if it gets on food, a coffee mug, or even your hands.
- Skin and eye contact can irritate or burn and may cause serious eye damage, recurring allergies, or a variety of other problems. Some chemicals can enter the bloodstream through skin contact, which could poison you.
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If you accidentally bring these hazards home, they could also cause health problems for the people who share your home. Hazardous materials can be transported home in several ways.
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Work clothing. Dust and particles on clothes can get into the air in your home as well as clinging to other surfaces. If you wash contaminated work clothes with other laundry, those items could become contaminated, too.
- Tools and equipment. Hand tools and other equipment that have had contact with hazardous substances can contaminate whatever they touch—furniture, flooring, a car or truck.
- Work-related materials such as bags, rags, or scrap lumber can also be contaminated and spread contamination.
- Your body. If you have not carefully removed any hazardous substances from your hands, hair, or other body parts, you are likely to spread the contamination to whatever—and whomever—you touch.
Follow the rules for the material you’re working with. You may be required to:
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Ventilate work areas.
- Enclose hazardous operations.
- Enter areas only if you’re authorized, trained, and properly equipped.
- Use PPE specifically designed to protect you against the specific hazardous materials you’re working with.
Check with the MSDS and your supervisor for the proper PPE to use, which may include:
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Gloves
- Safety goggles or glasses
- Protective suits or other clothing
- Protective boots or boot covers
- Respirator
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If your PPE gets contaminated, remove it in the proper sequence to prevent further contamination. Here’s how:
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Avoid touching contaminated clothing. When you unfasten contaminated snaps and zippers, wear gloves or hold the clothing from the inside.
- Remove items from the upper body first and work your way down.
- Place clothing immediately and properly in containers for disposal or decontamination.
Finally, follow these good hygiene habits to help you protect yourself and your family from contamination:
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Keep food, coffee mugs, and other nonessential items out of the work area.
- Wash thoroughly before eating, drinking, smoking, or using the toilet if you’ve been working where you could have been exposed to hazardous substances.
- Don’t keep PPE or work clothes in the same locker with your personal clothing.
- Wash thoroughly after any potential exposure to a hazardous substance—for at least 15 minutes if you know you were exposed.
- Shower and change clothes when possible before leaving work.
- Launder work clothes separately from other clothing or linens.
- Don’t take tools, scrap, packaging, and similar items home.
Why It Matters
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A recent study uncovered examples of family members suffering serious—even fatal—illness when workers unknowingly brought hazardous substances home from work on their clothes, tools, etc.
- The study found family members had contracted serious illnesses like asbestosis and chronic beryllium disease.
- Other illnesses among workers’ family members resulted from exposure to such highly hazardous substances as lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, pesticides, and other farm chemicals.
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