PPE

This talk is about personal protective equipment: choosing it, wearing it, and checking it. PPE is equipment, including clothing that protects against the weather, which is worn or held to protect someone against a risk to health or safety. HSE's overview says employers must protect workers, and must provide PPE free of charge if a risk assessment shows it is needed. Examples on that page are safety helmets, gloves, eye or hearing protection, high-visibility clothing, safety footwear, harnesses, and respiratory protective equipment so people do not breathe in dust, mist, gas or fume.

PPE is the last resort. HSE's page on the 2022 regulations sets the order: elimination, then substitution, then engineering controls, then administrative controls, then PPE. The overview says the same thing in site language. Do the risk assessment. Some hazards may remain after engineering controls and safe systems of work. PPE may then be needed for breathing in dust, mist, gas or fume, for falling materials, for flying particles or corrosive splash in the eyes, for skin contact with corrosive materials, for excessive noise, and for extremes of heat or cold. If we can stop the dust or the noise at source, we do that first. The silica talk and the noise talk are those controls. This talk is what is left on the person.

The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations require PPE to be properly assessed before use so it is fit for purpose, maintained and stored properly, provided with instructions on how to use it safely, and used correctly. Employers must give sufficient information, instruction and training. The 2022 amendment extended those employer duties to limb (b) workers, people who are not employees but are not in business for themselves. HSE's page says those changes do not apply to people who are self-employed. Where an employer does owe the duty, the PPE is free of charge, and the employer is responsible for maintenance, storage and replacement. The worker uses it as trained, returns it to the storage provided, and reports it if it is lost or becomes defective. You cannot charge a worker for PPE they need to do the work.

On a construction site, HSE's footwear answer is specific. Workers are expected to wear protective footwear while on site and doing heavy work. Toecaps protect against dropped objects. Midsole protection protects against a nail. If you need to be on site, the employer provides a basic standard of safety footwear, and you do not have to pay for it so long as you look after it and make it last a reasonable time. If there is a medical reason the basic footwear will not do, the employer pays for suitable kit. HSE also says clothing has to protect against the hazards. In cold weather, keep warm, especially at height, because the cold can distract someone. Shorts are a site-rule question as well as a hazard question: if the site does not allow them, follow the rule. The reason HSE gives for covering the lower legs is cuts, grazes and splinters in a place where skin damage can lead to infection.

The right type depends on the part of the body. Eyes: spectacles, goggles or a face screen, matched to impact, dust, splash or molten metal, and fitted to the person. Head: a safety helmet or a bump cap. Replace head protection if it is damaged. Some helmets take eye or hearing protection. Neck protection matters for welding. Ears: plugs, muffs or canal caps that reduce the noise enough and still let the person hear a warning. The noise talk has the levels. Hands: gloves or gauntlets for abrasion, temperature, cuts, chemicals and the rest. Do not wear gloves on a bench drill, where they can catch. Barrier cream is not a substitute for PPE. Feet: the sole has to suit the floor, including oil or a wet surface, and it may need to be thermally insulating. Lungs: filtering respirators, some of which have to be face-fitted, or breathing apparatus where the air itself is not good enough. Whole body: overalls, a chemical suit, or high-visibility clothing, and flame-retardant material where that is what the job needs.

Two pieces of PPE that fight each other are a failed control. HSE says if more than one type is worn, they must not interfere. A mask that will not seal because of a beard or a pair of glasses, or muffs that will not sit because of a helmet, is the combination problem. Hearing protection guidance says the same about hats, glasses and earrings. Check it before the task, not after. Head protection that is cracked gets replaced. Hearing protection needs undamaged seals, a headband that still grips, no homemade modifications, and plugs that are soft and clean. If it is lost or defective, tell the person who issued it. Do not tape it, and do not borrow a random pair because they were on the dashboard.

Today we ask four things. What hazard is left after the other controls? Is this the PPE for that hazard? Does it fit the person who is wearing it, and has that person been told how to use it? Is it damaged, dirty, or incompatible with the rest of the kit? If the answer to the last one is yes, it comes off and it gets replaced before the work starts.