NEWS

INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN

It was 2017 and a packed up coil needed cleaning . So , a young appie assisted his boss with the process , using caustic soda . Although he wore gloves , they were not the right kind and provided insufficient protection against the dangerous chemical he was working with .

His second mistake was not reacting quickly enough to washing off the corrosive acid afterwards , and not seeking professional medical attention soonest — all issues that could have been avoided by proper training beforehand . The chemical had eaten away parts of his flesh on his hand .

After almost two weeks of trying to treat the chemical burns at home ( with no success ), they finally sought the help of a doctor . Just over two weeks later , he went back to work and kept his hands in his gloves the entire day to try and protect his wounds … Bad news : this just made the wounds worse .

He was forced to have surgery eventually to clean the wounds , the cost amounting to almost R32 000 . Still , his woes were not over , and treatment was ongoing .

The unit that was being cleaned when the incident happened .

The initial chemical burns after the incident .

By not wearing proper PPE and waiting too long to seek medical help , the problem got much worse .

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The wounds got worse after returning to work and putting gloves on .