With the summer break upon us let’s remember the ‘H’ in Health and Safety. With this in mind, let’s think about how our environment affects our skin, particularly relevant as temperatures rise over the next couple of months.
The skin is the largest human organ and it plays a vital role as your body’s first line of defence against physical, chemical and microbiological hazards.
It does several jobs for us, it:
- protects the inside of the body from damage
- helps to keep our body temperature more or less the same
- gets rid of some body waste products through sweat
SKIN PROBLEMS
There are two diseases of the skin which we can help eliminate or reduce the risk of:
- Skin Cancer
- Dermatitis
SKIN CANCER
- Sun provides warmth, energy and vitamin D, but repeated exposure to ultraviolet radiation in sunlight can cause brown spots, sun burn, wrinkles and potentially, skin cancer.
- Avoid tanning and UV tanning booths. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, one indoor tanning session increases melanoma (severe skin cancer) risk by 20 percent
- Check your skin regularly. Pay attention to odd freckles, moles, and growths on your skin, and consult your doctor if you notice any changes for an early diagnosis of skin diseases and its treatment
- Protect your children from the sun. Keep babies younger than 6 months old completely covered and in the shade
Help your workers protect their skin by providing Sun Protect Stations.
DERMATITIS
Dermatitis is the second most commonly reported occupational disease. As with all occupational diseases prevention is the key, as with most cases of occupational dermatitis. Preventing skin contact with chemicals or other skin damaging agents will prevent the disease.
Preventing Dermatitis:
Control at the Source
- Product substitution
Control along the Path
- Engineering controls: ventilation, isolation booths, etc
Control at the Worker
- PPE – gloves, safety glasses/goggles, overalls, boots
- Administrative controls: company policies and training
- Personal hygiene
There are also other skin awareness materials available on our Sharepoint site:
Please display the poster in the download section of the UK News website, and discuss the other materials with your teams