PPE Gets Personal | What is PPE?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that employees be protected from workplace hazards. One way employers protect employees is through the use of Personal Protective Equipment, also known as “PPE”. Some examples of PPE include respirators, protective gloves, eye and face protection, hearing protection, and body protection suits. There are approximately 20 million workers who regularly use personal protective equipment on the job.
Employers have many responsibilities in regards to preventing workplace injuries and illnesses.

They must perform a workplace hazard assessment in order to identify and control both physical and health hazards. Employers then must determine and provide the appropriate personal protective equipment for their employees, as well as frequently review and evaluate the effectiveness of their PPE Program.

Employers also need to ensure that employees are trained to use, maintain, and care for the personal protective equipment. After PPE training, employees should know: under what conditions the PPE is needed; which equipment is needed; the limitations of the PPE; how to don, doff, wear, and adjust the PPE; and how to properly care for, maintain, and dispose of the PPE. Additional training and/or retraining of employees is required when an employee does not demonstrate proper understanding of PPE use, or if changes in the job or PPE warrant the training. Employers must take care to properly document employee PPE training.

Both employers and employees must work together to ensure a safe work environment. An effective employee safety and health program can benefit everyone, by increasing productivity and reducing employee illnesses, injuries and workers’ compensation costs.

For additional information on Personal Protective Equipment and OSHA’s requirements, please see OSHA’s PPE Fact Sheet.

For PPE Training or other 100% online safety courses, see our Personal Protective Equipment Program & Selection course or our Online Course Catalog.

Date Posted: 01-13-2015
Tags: osha ppe, osha safety topics, osha safety training, osha workplace safety, personal protection equipment, personal protective equipment, ppe safety,
Categories: DOT HAZMAT,