News

A fortune 100 chemical company standardizes PPE practices

Situation

In charge of the REACH program implementation for a renowned chemical company, the European safety coordinator approached Ansell with several goals - make best practices become standard practices, comply with REACH obligations on PPE and gloves and facilitate change management to take internally.

Solution

Ansell presented its Guardian process to the company’s European safety committee, which decided to initially implement a pilot in the largest plant in the Netherlands.

A team of local safety managers and Ansell specialists was formed and created a report with findings and further improvement guidelines.  Namely, this report registered potential risks associated with the handling of chemical hazards; the likelihood and severity (splash or immersion) of the exposure; as well it did identify the lack of secure grip in outdoor and humid environment.   
Particularly appreciated the slicing and dicing of the plant by production unit and handling activities, the chemical charts guiding operators in the selection and proper usage of products, the best practice information to complete MSDS of commercial products and comply with related REACH obligations and solutions that addressed the dislikes and complaints from current PPE products.

Results

Recommendations were implemented in the first plant, with a turnkey approach created for 5 major out of 12 European production sites.  
The company was very supportive and used of the glove program to create its own educational tools and distributed them across plant sites.
New MSDS served as reference to the revamp of Global public information in terms of handling precautionary measures.
 

Pulp and Paper Company reduce Hand Injuries indicators by 60%

Situation

After a pulp and paper company experienced an unacceptable level of hand injuries in the form of lacerations, safety personnel approached Ansell about how they could reduce the company’s rate of injury. Ansell implemented Guardian via a corporate mandate across multiple locations.

Solution

Ansell conducted Guardian assessments at plant locations selected as pilot sites that were representative of processes encountered in other locations. The goal was to create a set of solutions that could be consolidated into one package and applied company manufacturing sites.

Ansell specialists evaluated every application at the sites to identify critical factors and gained input from as many employees as possible to obtain feedback on the current PPE products used for various tasks. In particular, the Guardian process revealed that workers lacked the proper level of cut protection to safely perform their jobs. Gloves supplied were often one to two levels below the level needed.

The Ansell specialists, working in their respective geographical territories and local safety coordinators, agreed upon the solutions and developed recommendations for implementation across all facilities. Ansell suggested workers use a glove with a higher level of cut resistance better aligned with individual job requirements to ensure optimum protection.

Results

The Ansell solutions were implemented across 5 major manufacturing sites, reducing hand-related injuries by 60 to 70 percent. These figures were supplied by the corporate office.