Hand Safety Spotlight

At this time of year, while most of us are busy enjoying the holidays and spending time with family, there are men and women working to keep the lights on around the world. The 24-hour routine of our industrial workforce and first responders is a reminder that while we may enjoy our down time, safety can never take a day off.

High-stakes work environments pose a serious threat to workers' safety on a daily basis. From people who work at oil rigs (offshore and onshore) to firefighters responding to all sorts of emergencies (most recently the wildfires in California)—all of them face intense pressure with the added burden of lugging heavy equipment into and out of hazardous environments. And while the immediate threat to their personal safety is stressful in its own right, they have to deal with a variety of other hazards like exhaustion, extreme temperatures, and hazardous chemicals.

Extrication scenes are unique. They’re one of the few environments where people rush towards danger. The risks are serious, presenting a number of safety challenges to first responders, from the coordination of responding teams and stressful accidents, to using dangerous heavy machinery. A strong extrication plan involves plenty of preparation, so we’ve gathered our best safety tips for extrication scenes.