Puncture hazards

Small areas Extreme care must be exercised when dealing with dry or powdered agents as toxins may adhere to the skin or clothing and then be spread to other areas. Because of the minute quantities needed to produce a response in an exposed individual, cross contamination can pose a significant inhalation or puncture hazard later. 

Health Hazards Information - Recommended Personal Protective Equipment Eye protection Symptoms Following Eiqzosure Dust irritates eyes in same way as any foreign material. Penetration of skin by fragments of metal is likely to produce local irritation, blisters, and ulcers which may become infected General Treatment for Exposure EYES flush with water to remove dust. SKIN treat as any puncture Toxicity by Inhalation (Threshold Limit Value) Data not available Short-Term Inhalation Limits Not pertinent Toxicity by Ingestion Oral LDLo (lowest lethal dose) = 230 mg/kg (dog) Late Toxicity Data not available Vtqtor (Gas) Irritant Characteristics Not pertinent Liquid or Solid Irritant Characteristics Data not available Odor Threshold Not pertinent. 

The new hand protection standard resulted from OSHA s belief that many hand injuries result from not wearing hand protection or wearing protection for the wrong type of hazards. Employers should evaluate and provide hand protection when there are hazards to hands from absorption of harmful substances, severe cuts or lacerations, severe abrasions, punctures, chemical burns, thermal burns, and harmful temperature extremes. 

There is also a significant hazard posed by injection of toxins through contact with contaminated debris. Appropriate protection to avoid any potential laceration or puncture of the skin is essential. 

In all cases, there is a significant hazard posed by contact of contaminated material with skin that has been cut or lacerated, or through injection of pathogens by contact with debris. Appropriate protection to avoid any potential abrasion, laceration, or puncture of the skin is essential. Individuals with damaged or open skin should not be allowed to enter the contaminated area. 

Preventing exposure to hazardous industrial chemicals is a primary concern at industrial sites. Most sites contain a variety of chemical substances in gaseous, liquid, or solid form. These substances can enter the unprotected body by inhalation, skin absorption, ingestion, or through a puncture wound (injection). A contaminant can cause damage at the point of contact or can act systemically, causing a toxic effect at a part of the body distant from the point of initial contact. 

Location of buried materials at a hazardous waste site is usually for the purpose of remedial action l.e., excavating these materials and ultimately disposing of them. The key unknowns are type (bulk-dumped or packaged in drums or other containers), quantity (volume of waste number of drums), and location, particularly depth of burial. The concerns are for safe excavation without puncturing containers or breaching any existing trench liners and thus aggravating the cleanup problems. 

Lumbar puncture is considered mandatory in patients with suspected bacterial meningitis but the procedure can be hazardous with a risk of brain herniation in patients with raised intracranial pressure, and imaging with computed tomography or MRI is recommended for selected patients to detect brain shift. Patients who are in an immunocompromised state, have new-onset seizures, moderate-to-severe impairment of consciousness or signs that are suspicious of space-occupying lesions (e.g. papilloedema - oedema of the optic disk) should undergo neuroimaging prior to lumbar puncture. 

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