After the Storm, Pt. 2
The death toll from Hurricane Harvey has surpassed 60, Beaumont’s federal prisoners have gone a week without food and are drinking toilet water as I type this, and Irma has grown larger than Ohio on its collision course with Puerto Rico and Florida. If my calculations are right, 161,997.07 acres of California land are currently on fire, as are massive swaths of Montana and Oregon. This is America in 2017, and many more disasters are to come. Where will you be? What will you do? How will you be remembered?   If you’re reading this, you’re probably a professional laborer or an employer of laborers looking for great deals on high-quality safety equipment, and you’re in the right place to do so. Here at Enviro we have a large selection of products from several top-rated brands, engineered to serve all kinds of labor needs. But disaster cleanup is a significantly grimmer occasion to need our products than just another day at the factory. There’s a degree of solemnity that is appropriate for situations where the dead are multiplying and the dying are in dire straits.   What are we to do? Well, for us the solution is to keep doing what we do best: provide the market with top-tier products at unbeatable prices. If you read last week’s post, we covered the hazards of contamination by the fetid water and airborne debris. We’re still dealing with those same concerns, but your eyes are also at risk in this situation.   Proper eye protection for this job must seal out foreign matter and have anti-fog coating on the lenses to prevent perspiration distorting your vision. Ideally, they should also have side-shields to protect from impacts by flying objects. An airtight seal around the eye will do the trick to stay infection-free. Some goggles, like Pyramex’s chem splash (PYR304T-N) even have one-way air vents to allow some airflow without compromising the protection. 3M has a cheap and convenient option (AOS40661-00000-10) that can easily be bought in massive bulk and distributed to hundreds of rescuers.   Also necessary is protection for your hands, which will be your most essential tools in the field. Two great products come to mind. HexArmor’s Chrome Series 4036 is a waterproof heavy-duty work glove. Besides looking like something Tony Stark would make (HexArmor gloves are instantly recognizable), it feature level-5 cut protection, impact-resistant back-of-hand protection, and top-tier abrasion resistance on the palms. Combine all that with the waterproof H2X lining that fends off the bitterly wet and cold conditions you’ll be facing, and you have an excellent choice for the more extreme situations. In more predictable contexts, you can go with a disposable glove such as the Micromax N89. These are nitrile-coated medical-grade gloves designed for lab work, but what makes this particular product stand out is its long cuff. Even the best gloves are useless if water rushes into them, so this glove can serve a similar function to waders, except for the arms rather than legs.   Hurricane season is not over. America is facing devastating natural threats that we can do nothing to stop. But if we prepare in advance and go into recovery operations with a high level of organization, grit, and passion for the suffering, then we can come out of this stronger than ever before. Thanks for reading.