Safety - Personal Protective Equipment

Personal protective equipment (PPE) are materials or equipment that helps to protect the wearer from sustaining injuries while working. Personally, protective equipment is worn so as to protect workers from hazards such as biohazards, heat, electricity, chemicals, physical hazards etc. Personal protective equipment is only worn when there is a hazard present.

Personal protective equipment can be categorized based on the part of the body which it is protecting, the type of hazard which it is protecting an individual from and the type of accessory involved. Some of the categories are respiratory, skin, eyes and hearing protection. Personal protective equipment is very necessary for a workplace where hazard is present even when engineering control has been implemented.

If personal protective equipment is required even after implementation of other control measures, you must choose all required PPE carefully, making sure that everyone makes use of it, train everyone on how to make use of it and also train everyone on how to identify and report hazards.

After the everyday job, personal protective equipment should be properly taken care of and properly stored in good condition. Any PPE faulted should not be made use of again.