HAND & ARM PROTECTION SURVEY (HAAPS) : WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Contents

• Why HAAPS is so important for your workplace

• What is HAAPS

• Why does my business need a HAAPS?

• What will a HAAPS tell me?

• What happens in a HAAPS?

• How will my business and workers benefit from a HAAPS?

Why HAAPS is so important for your workplace?

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 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 Hand and Arm Protection Survey (HAAPS) 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 HAAPS?

25% of all workplace injuries involve the hands, fingers, thumbs, and wrists. When an unsuitable glove is worn in the workplace, your business risks the safety of workers, lost productivity due to injury, and possible legal ramifications. A HAAPS will ensure that your workers are protected, that productivity is maintained and that they can perform tasks effectively.

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?

HAAPS should be an essential component of any workplace safety program. HAAPS will help you choose the ideal glove solution for all allocated work areas and applications and 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?

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 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.

How will my business and workers benefit from a HAAPS?

• Increased safety awareness and compliance

  By involving your workers in the process by consulting with them about their needs, risks faced, and preferences for gloves, you can improve productivity, safety awareness, and compliance. Your workers’ opinions, preferences, and first-hand experiences will go on to form part of your risk assessment (however, this does not replace the need for an official risk assessment).

• Professional risk management advice

  Our glove experts have bespoke training on safety gloves and experience in conducting HAAPS. The Unigloves expert(s) will look at the risks present in your workplace, evaluate your current safety glove solution, and find appropriate alternatives if necessary. The HAAPS is offered as guidance and risk management advice at no obligation and is free of charge.

• Regulatory compliance

  Is your business compliant with the HSE regulations for worker safety and PPE? Unigloves HAAPS will help your business determine the level of compliance required and will offer safety glove solutions to ensure your workplace meets these regulatory compliance obligations.

• Enhanced safety and reduced injury levels

  The HAAPS will help you to select the best gloves for each workstation and application in your workplace, based on the risks present, as well as the types of tasks that your workers need to carry out. This may result in enhanced safety for your workplace, with fewer injuries.

• Reduced downtime due to sick leave

  The HAAPS will help you to select the best gloves for each workstation and application in your workplace, based on the risks present, as well as the types of tasks that your workers need to carry out. This may result in enhanced safety for your workplace, with fewer injuries.

• Greater productivity

  Selecting the right safety glove results in reduced instances of injury and means workers are better able to perform tasks thanks to properly fitting, comfortable gloves that enhance productivity.

• Greater value for money

  The cheapest glove is not always the most cost-effective. Our glove expert will ensure that the gloves you select provide excellent value for money, whether disposable gloves or heavy duty reusable gloves from the Nitrex range, saving you both money and time.

Conclusion

The HAAPS 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.

The HAAPS will help you ensure worker safety, enhance productivity, and ensure the best value for money when selecting safety gloves. Get in touch with our team today to schedule a HAAPS or find out more information.