Workplace Jewelry Safety

Jewelry and the workplace can go together if the wearer exercises care.

Wearing jewelry provides an outlet for personal expression. In some work environments, however, jewelry creates danger. For those environments the Occupational Safety & Health Administration offers guidelines for safe use of jewelry and suggestions for when jewelry should not be worn. Loose or dangling jewelry can create a safety hazard just as loose-fitting clothing or long hair can.

Types

Machinery can catch jewelry and pull the wearer into danger.

Danger comes from several directions. Dangling jewelry may catch on protruding pieces of equipment, injuring the wearer. Should it catch on an operating control, the jewelry could start machinery, creating danger to others as well as the wearer.

When jewelry catches in machinery, the wearer can be pulled into the machine or caught against it, unable to reach the controls. A necklace caught in moving equipment can choke the wearer or inflict neck injury.

An electrocution risk exists when jewelry made of conductive metal is worn around live current. Section 1910.333(c)(8) of OSHA Standards for Electrical Workers specifically prohibits the wearing of conductive jewelry in such a situation unless it has been made non-conductive by wrapping or some other type of insulation.

Workers subjected to high intensity lights or other heat sources should exercise caution in choosing metal jewelry. Metal can transfer heat to skin, resulting in a burn.

Considerations

Jewelry pulled into moving equipment is dangerous to others as well as the wearer. Pieces can be propelled like shrapnel across the area. Equipment may short out when jewelry jams the mechanism, resulting in possible electrocution or fire danger to others.

Misconceptions

While OSHA does not forbid jewelry on the job in most cases, its standards offer recommendations for increased safety. Employers may point out hazards to employees and set workplace rules so long as they are applied consistently to all employees in that situation. While employers bear responsibility for providing a safe workplace, employees carry the duty to behave safely on the job.

Prevention/Solution

Use caution with protruding rings to avoid injury.

Keep safety guards in place on equipment. Report any missing or damaged protective devices immediately.

Tuck dangling jewelry such as necklaces inside garments while on the job. Exercise care with protruding items such as rings with raised mountings. Catching the ring on a stationary object can result in a broken or badly bruised finger.

Warning

Be alert for potential dangers beyond machinery. For example, employees in jobs involving the use of chemicals may be subject to reactions between the chemicals and their jewelry. Child care workers inadvertently may scratch their charges with the edges of jewelry.

References

• OSHA: Standards for Electrical Workers
• J.J. Keller & Associates: Frequently Asked Questions on Workplace Safety
• OSHA: Struck By, Stuck Against and Caught In

Resources

• U.S. Department of Labor: OSHA Laws, Regulations and Interpretations