IFPS Promotes Safety in Fluid Power Industry
The International Fluid Power Society (IFPS) believes that implementation of safe procedures is paramount in all fluid power systems, the electrical and electronic controls that guide them, and all associated technologies.
So in a move to promote safety, the IFPS has issued Fluid Injection Injury Safety cards to all of its members, as well certified non-members who recertified in 2013. These cards contain information on obtaining five critical pieces of information for doctors and emergency medical technicians in treating fluid injection injuries.
“The IFPS believes that implementation of safe procedures is paramount in all fluid power systems, the electrical and electronic controls that guide them, and all associated technologies,” said Mark Perry, CFPHS, IFPS President and sales manager of Tribute customer Fitzsimmons Hydraulics. “Critical safety information can now be found in every IFPS study manual and is also available from the IFPS Web site.”
The IFPS believes that it’s important to be prepared in the event of a fluid power injection injury. Doctors may not be experienced in treating injection injuries and therefore may underestimate the urgency of this type of injury. It can take hours to locate a qualified medical professional.
Your best chance at proper treatment is to locate a hospital or hand surgeon who is experienced with this type of injury in advance and have contact information readily available.
Your company should be prepared to have the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) available whenever an injury occurs.
The safety cards help communicate vital information to help medical staff treat fluid power injection injuries:
- What type of fluid? (Bring Material Safety Data Sheet)
- What is the amount of fluid injected?
- What was the pressure of fluid injected?
- What is the spread of injected material?
- How much time has lapsed between injection & treatment?
Critical safety information can now be found in every IFPS study manual. For additional safety education, an archived online presentation, “In the Line of Fire: Cause and Dangers of Fluid Injection Injuries,” presented by Dan Helgerson, CFPAI, is available to the public, as well as a four page general safety document, “Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility.” All of these safety resources can be found at www.ifps.org.
