202621 Mind the gap: a PPE incident

A crewmember was assigned to perform chipping on deck near the cargo manifolds crossover area. While chipping, a particle of rust passed through a gap near the nose in his goggles and into the eye. He did not go directly to flush the eye, hoping that the particle would come out by itself.

After work the crewmember noticed that the particle was still inside his eye and tried to flush it with water. This did not work, so he reported the incident and received on-board medical attention. Following the incident, an ad-hoc meeting was carried out on board highlighting the importance of proper tightness and fit of safety goggles.

Lessons learned

• Any incident involving an eye should be immediately reported and attended to.
• As a general good practice, always check your PPE before each use.
• When wearing safety googles for chipping, there should be absolutely no gap between the skin and the glasses.