Did you know that violation of the fall protection, respiratory protection, and eye protection safety standards are the most common citations issued by OSHA nationwide? Personal protective equipment (PPE) can help your employees reduce their risk of injury and death on the job. If you are not able to eliminate injury and illness hazards at your workplace through other control measures, the use of PPE is required. Injuries, deaths, and citations most often occur because PPE was not used or not used correctly.
To maintain a safe work place, it is important to assess the need for PPE and make it available to your employees.
Types of PPE
Your employees can face several different hazards in the workplace, such as chemical, radiological, physical, electrical, and mechanical exposures. Different types of PPE can help protect your employees from these risks. Some PPE examples include:
- Fall protection when working from heights
- Respiratory gear to guard against breathing in dangerous substances
- Eye protection to guard against fumes, chemicals, and flying particles
- Gloves to protect the hands
- Work boots to protect the feet
- Full body suits to protect from chemical, physical, or biological hazards such as lead or asbestos particles
- Hard hats to protect the head from flying, falling, and moving objects
Questions to ask yourself when selecting PPE
The answers to these questions will be specific to your workplace.
- Is PPE necessary at the workplace?
- What kind of personal protection is necessary for the job?
- What is the proper way to put on and remove PPE?
- Are there any limitations to the personal protection equipment?
- What are the proper methods to care for, maintain, and dispose of the personal protection equipment?
In addition, always review the PPE manufacturer’s instructions.
Training
It is also important to train your employees on:
- What PPE is
- The steps you have taken to eliminate hazards at the jobsite
- Why use PPE and what can happen if it is not used properly
- Where your employees can find the correct PPE at the jobsite
- How to inspect the PPE for damage
Even if the job takes a few minutes, injury or illness exposure may be present, so it is important that your employees take the time to put on the correct PPE. It only takes one incident of a fragment flying into an unprotected eye or a heavy object hitting someone in the head for an injury to occur. Help your employees stay safe by ensuring they understand why they need to use PPE and how to use it properly.