Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the body from injury or infection. This equipment is worn to minimize exposure to hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses. Personal Protective Equipment is worn to protect yourself from hazards such as heat, electrical, chemicals and airborne particulate matter. All PPE should be safely designed, be kept clean and fit comfortably to encourage your workers to use on the job site.
There are many types of protective equipment, each with specific applications and use requirements. One may need respiratory protection, eye and face protection, skin protection, and noise protection. In the case of needing respiratory protection, responders should use appropriate respirators to protect against adverse health effects caused by breathing contaminated air. In the case of eye and face protection, the protection should protect responders from the hazards of flying fragments, hot sparks, and chemical splashes. When is comes to your skin, skin protection should be used when responders may be exposed to harmful substances, for example, long sleeve clothing and hats. Lastly, with noise, earplugs or earmuffs can help prevent damage to hearing. Exposure to high noise levels can cause irreversible hearing loss or impairment as well as physical and psychological stress.
Most job sites require their employees to wear head and foot protection such as helmets and boots to ensure that they are staying safe around construction equipment. Harnesses and fall arrest devices should be used when working from heights to prevent any accidents. Long sleeved clothes, sunscreen and thick socks can protect you from frostbite or getting sunburned.
Management must require training to be provided for their supervisors and employees to guarantee the proper selection, fit, use, cleaning and maintenance of PPE. A PPE policy should be set into place and enforced by all supervisors. Employers are required to train their workers on personal protective equipment and to know:
- When it is necessary
- What kind is necessary
- How to properly put it on, adjust, wear and take it off
- Limitations of the equipment
- Proper care, maintenance and disposal of the equipment
Here at Frontier Industrial Corporation, we take our commitment to worker safety and workplace safety to the next level. We have weekly worker safety training meetings that are conducted using relevant safety information. Frontier also makes sure that the Daily Safety Task Assignment “huddles” are attended by each employee on a job site covering daily scope of work and potential hazards.
For more information please see the following websites:
https://chemm.nlm.nih.gov/ppe.htm
http://www.safety.uwa.edu.au/topics/physical/protective-equipment