Clark Launches Hand Safety Initiative in Conjunction with 2020 Safety Week

September 14, 2020

Clark Launches Hand Safety Initiative in Conjunction with 2020 Safety Week

Clark is kicking off a company-wide initiative focused on hand injury prevention to coincide with Construction Safety Week 2020, the industry’s annual safety awareness campaign. Clark’s focus on hand safety highlights the industry-wide prevalence of these injuries, which send more than one million workers each year to emergency rooms, according to the Occupational Safety & Health Association (OSHA). 

Among the new measures that further protect its craftworkers, Clark is elevating the minimum glove requirement to an ANSI Cut Level 3 for nearly all workers. 

“Having your hands and fingers intact at the end of each day is vital to everyone regardless of whether you’re a tradesperson who works with your hands daily, or you engage in ‘do it yourself’ projects on the weekend,” reflects Kris Manning, a senior vice president at Clark who oversees the organization’s safety program.  

Throughout the week, Clark craft workers will be trained on new hand safety protocols and participate in socially-distanced power tool demonstrations and safety stand-downs. 

Philip Nunes, a superintendent at Miller & Long Concrete Construction who injured his hand early in his career and currently oversees concrete work on Clark's The Wilson and The Elm project, welcomes the attention on the issue. "In construction, your hands are your livelihood," Nunes reflects. "It means so much to me that Clark is rolling out a program that emphasizes hand safety to help ensure that everyone goes home the same way they show up to work.”  

Clark’s Safety Week initiative builds on momentum from earlier changes to equipment guidelines within the company that illustrate the effectiveness of these new protocols. Most recently, C3M Power Systems, Clark’s electrical subsidiary, celebrated six months without a recordable lost time injury after increasing glove safety requirements to a minimum cut-level 3 for all electrical work on its job sites.