Spot Screen Clinical Director
Spot Screen is one of LGIS' health services partners. Karen is a nurse clinician with qualifications in oncology, primary skin cancer medicine, and demoscopy.
Outdoor workers have unique challenges in managing their skin protection due to their daily sun exposure. For this reason, it is recommended workers use clear zinc on the face.
In fact, there are four main reasons workers should be encouraged to use zinc.
1. Work environment
Outdoor workers won’t tend to wear any product that sweats off into the eyes or mouth, so often, the compliance rate is poor. Zinc based products tend to remain in place, particularly on the ears or nose.
Additionally, zinc is a mechanical block rather than a chemical block and acts like an umbrella on the skin.
Many outdoor workers have extensive sun damage to the nose, ears and lips, so this would be the best product for protecting those areas.
2. Gender and age
Statistically outdoor workers are most likely to be older men who, generally speaking, are more familiar with zinc products and less trustful of sunscreens. They prefer products, which aren’t obvious and do not leave a white film or feel too greasy.
3. Ease of use
Zinc sticks are small, easy to re-apply and fit in pockets.
Bottled sunscreens are often left in cars to spoil.
4. Likelihood of compliance.
Anecdotally, the Spot Screen team have noticed that when they return to work sites for annual screenings there’s an increase in nose and lip protection when zinc-based sunscreens were available.
The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder took strong steps forward in supporting the mental wellbeing of its workforce by expanding the one-day RU OK? Day initiative into a week of presentations, workshops and activities to help staff develop skills and techniques to improve their mental resilience.
When it comes to sun protection things are a little more complicated than SLIP, SLOP, SLAP, SLIDE, SEEK for outdoor workers.
With summer on its way, it’s important to focus on appropriate personal protective equipment
to shield workers from the harmful effects of UV rays while maintaining wearer comfort.
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Great Eastern Wheatbelt RRC Chris Gilmour tells a story about a local grader operator who had a near miss with a small child. “The (grader) driver was a grandfather and it really shook him up,” he said.
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Risk Matters, via this website, is designed to keep members, their staff and elected members informed on topical risk management and insurance issues and LGIS programs and services.
