Is your workplace the safest it can be?
Like most workplaces, yours has probably conducted numerous safety audits over the years and developed a range of procedures and guidelines designed to keep workers, customers, and materials safe from harm. In fact, the HSE and other governing bodies around the world require it for many private and public sector businesses. But how are your gloves stacking up in the greater safety equation?
Safety gloves are an essential piece of personal protective equipment for a variety of applications and are as crucial as other PPE for preventing workplace injuries.
Although you might require your workers to don safety gloves while on the job, how can you be sure they’re the best gloves for the task?
There’s more the think about than simply slapping on a pair of industrial work gloves. A Hand and Arm Protection Survey (HAAPS) is an important tool for any workplace where safety gloves are worn. In this article, we’ll uncover just how fundamental it can be to your workplace’s safety policies.
What is a Hand and Arm Protection Survey (HAAPS)?
Are your safety gloves keeping your workers protected? What about protecting tools and materials? Have you thought about hand fatigue?
Selecting the right glove for the job is more complicated than it sounds, and even the most vigilant workplace health and safety officers can have a hard time finding the ideal solution. The only way to ensure your workplace’s industrial and disposable gloves are the best for the task is to perform a survey.
The Unigloves Hand and Arm Protection Survey helps your business select the best safety glove solution for the workplace, depending on the risks present, the needs of your workers, and more. Choosing the most appropriate glove for any application means considering:
- Worker safety
- Workplace productivity
- Value for money
- Glove performance
With the help of a HAAPS, and considering each of these factors, this will help establish the most appropriate safety gloves for your workplace.
Why does my business need a Hand & Arm Protection Survey?
You might have read that workplace injury costs UK businesses over £16.2 billion per year. But did you know that over ¼ of all workplace injuries involve the hands, fingers, thumbs, or wrists? Considering the staggering number of workplace injuries reported in the UK and Europe each year, hand safety should be at the top of your list of concerns.
Hand injuries mean much more than lost productivity, potential compensation claims, and legal hassles (which are significant enough to raise an eyebrow). Working with the wrong gloves can also pose a risk to tools and valuable equipment, slow down production due to hand fatigue or irritation, and result in wasted investment in poorly suited gloves which end up costing more in the long run (despite the short term savings on cheaper gloves, for example).
The right pair of gloves, on the other hand, means maintaining productivity, keeping workers’ hands safe (and workers happy), ensuring against damage to tools and equipment, and being sure that workers can perform their tasks effectively and efficiently.
What will a HAAPS tell me?
Hand and Arm Protection Surveys should be an essential component of any workplace safety program. A glove audit from Unigloves will help you to ensure:
- Your gloves provide adequate protection from the hazards present in the workplace
- The gloves do not unduly obstruct workers’ hands and impact efficiency
- Your gloves are the most cost effective solution for the business
- The proper fit and feel of gloves are achieved, for maximum comfort and safety
- Safety considerations such as allergies and sensitivities are considered
- The relevant safety regulations are being observed
What happens in a HAAPS from Unigloves?
We aim to provide our customers with the proper support and information to select the correct hand protection solution for their workplace. This means safeguarding against expensive injury claims, time lost due to staff absences through injury, and non-compliance with national, local or industry safety regulations.
Our Hand and Arm Protection Survey, conducted alongside your management team or health and safety officers, will help you to develop a glove safety policy that can be used alongside your other risk assessments and programs, to ensure your workplace remains as safe and productive as possible.
During the survey, our glove expert will visit your site (or multiple sites, if necessary) and examine the work areas that require hand and arm protection. This expert will gather data on the current work gloves being used, the frequency of use, the hazardous materials that workers may come into contact with, user feedback, and any allergies, sensitivities, or worker preferences applicable. They’ll then transfer what they’ve learned during the survey to the Unigloves HAAPS System, to receive a recommendation on the most appropriate hand protection solutions for your workplace.
Once the HAAPS report is complete, our team will offer a selection of gloves to trial in your workplace and monitor the trial for feedback and results, reassessing the glove recommendations if necessary. This trial will be designed around factors your health and safety officer/s, workers, and management have agreed are important, as well as those our team determines from the survey. Be it improved dexterity, cut resistance, durability, chemical protection, comfort, productivity, or value for money, our HAAPS report will allow your business to realise the full potential of our range of safety gloves for your workplace.
Book a HAAPS with Unigloves today
A Hand and Arm Protection Survey forms part of the gold standard for any workplace safety program. It helps employers to keep workers out of danger, avoid legal risks, increase workplace efficiency, and determine whether the workplace is complying with relevant regulations.
To find out more about how your business will benefit from a HAAPS (including enhanced safety, increase productivity, greater value for money, and more) and for answers to some frequently asked questions, refer to our HAAPS page here.
