Use proper PPE
Protect your staff the same way you'd protect your students

You wouldn't allow a student to handle chemicals in the chemistry lab without safety glasses. The same standards should be used with teachers, grounds and maintenance workers and kitchen staff.

Prevention requires teamwork
Don't ignore the common-sense things that can prevent hand and eye injuries.

• Make Personal Protective Equipment easily accessible. The easier it is to locate, the more likely employees are to use it.
• Train employees on proper selection, use and maintenance of PPE. Knowledge is power.
• Recognize any changes you may have in your environment or procedures. These changes may require changes in PPE selection.
• Review chemical use with employees.
• Remind employees to protect themselves. Hang PPE posters in the maintenance room and kitchen. Order posters from SFM's online Resource Catalog.
• Ask employees for recommendations on opportunities to use PPE. Teachers may need safety gloves or glasses for projects they're doing in the classrooms. Find out what they need and make it available.

Encourage employees to:

• Wear eye protection when exposed to flying particles, acidic or caustic chemicals, gases or vapors, or light radiation.
• Use hearing protection when exposed to high decibel areas like the boiler room or while using power tools, or while performing grounds activities.
• Wear proper footwear to prevent slips and falls.
• Wear suitable gloves to protect the hands when chemicals and harmful temperature are present or when employees are at risk for cuts, lacerations, abrasions, punctures or burns.

Advice from SFM's print publication

Finding good treatment
What to look for in a clinic that's going to be treating your injured employees

While you can't require injured employees to go to a particular clinic, you can suggest one.