What is personal protective equipment?
Personal protective equipment, or PPE, is
designed to protect employees from serious
workplace injuries or illnesses resulting from
contact with chemical, radiological, physical,
electrical, mechanical, or other workplace
hazards. Besides face shields, safety glasses,
hard hats, and safety shoes, PPE includes a
variety of devices and garments such as fall arrest,
goggles, coveralls, gloves, vests, earplugs,
and respirators.
What are your responsibilities as an employer?
OSHA’s primary PPE standards are in Title
29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR),
Part 1910 Subpart I, and equivalent regulations
in states with OSHA-approved state plans, but
you can find PPE requirements elsewhere in the
General Industry Standards. For example,
29 CFR 1910.156, OSHA’s Fire Brigades
Standard, has requirements for firefighting gear.
In addition, 29 CFR 1926.95-106 covers the
construction industry. OSHA’s general PPE
requirements mandate that employers conduct a
hazard assessment of their workplaces to
determine what hazards are present that require
the use of PPE, provide workers with
appropriate PPE, and require them to use and
maintain it in sanitary and reliable condition.
Using PPE is often essential, but it is generally
the last line of defense after engineering controls,
work practices, and administrative controls.
Engineering controls involve physically changing a
machine or work environment. Administrative
controls involve changing how or when
employees do their jobs, such as scheduling work
and rotating employees to reduce exposures.
Work practices involve training workers how to
perform tasks in ways that reduce their exposure
to workplace hazards.
As an employer, you must assess your
workplace to determine if hazards are present
that require the use of PPE. If such hazards are
present, you must select PPE and require
employees to use it, communicate your PPE
selection decisions to your employees, and select
PPE that properly fits your workers.
You must also train employees who are
required to wear PPE on how do the following:
• Use PPE properly
• Be aware of when PPE is necessary
• Know what kind of PPE is necessary
• Understand the limitations of PPE in
protecting employees from injury
• Don, adjust, wear, and doff PPE
• Maintain PPE properly
WES is an Autorized Dealer of PMI products.
WES sells great equipment for the work and rescue professionals.
The entire product line is available online.
click here for Tower Pack info.
For ordering information contact:
Jeremy Buckles
Safety Manager
(317)867-5406