Great Ideas To Make Your PPE Program Effective
Recognizing that personal protective equipment (PPE) is imperative and figuring out how to choose the right equipment to fit the dangerous situation is critical for worker safety. If you simply buy the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and leave it at the work place with the hopes that the employees will use the equipment, and therefore you will comply with regulations, you are likely to have worker injuries and be slapped with OSHA penalties.
Complying with PPE standards is a series of actions that depend on one another and each of which must be working properly to be compliant.
Ensure your PPE Program is working as it should by looking at the following areas:
Assesment of Hazards
In order to establish a comprehensive PPE program, employers must review physical and health risks in the working environment. It is in fact not possible to select PPE for the workplace without conducting an appropriate hazard analysis. This is one reason why employers are commonly cited for not conducting this crucial part of their PPE program.
Examples of physical hazards include:
Falling objects
Rolling or pinching objects
Moving objects
Fluctuating temperatures
Penetration
High intensity lighting
Electrical connections
Sharp edges
Health hazards could be:
Overexposure to harmful dusts
Chemicals
Radiation
Exposure to blood or other potentially infectious material
While conducting your analysis, make careful note of each kind of hazard present. Take into account the roles of your workers, (including work conducted seasonally or non-routine) and look at the environment the work is being conducted in as well. Think about what are the possibilities of injury?
Certain hazards may not be obvious without careful thought and consideration. For example, employees working on the manufacturing floor may not be in danger of being struck by falling objects. However, if these same employees are working below scaffolding or catwalks which are used by maintenance staff, then falling tools or equipment can be a hazard (at least part of the time). You would need to provide hard hats for these workers when maintenance is performed above them.
If there is risk of falling objects that may impact the head, the same is true for the feet and toes. You’ll also need, therefore, some sort of foot protection for your workers if there is any type of falling hazard, such as the steel toe covers safety toe covers manufactured by Wilkuro.
Except for some retail and office employees, many workers are exposed to the prospect of eye injury. Look for dust, chemicals, objects that may break loose and flying particulates to determine the need for workplace eye protection. If any of these are present (or the potential for eye hazards exist) then workers must wear safety glasses or goggles.
Always document your assessments in writing and maintain written policies that require workers to wear PPE to avoid OSHA citations.
Training Workers
Train staff before providing the personal protective gear and document the training in your records. Employers must demonstrate the proper way to use the PPE during training. This demonstration includes foot, eye and hearing protection.
Staff should also be instructed to inspect their PPE prior to wearing it and to report any damaged equipment. An employee should never wear damaged PPE. Employers should keep a supply of replacement PPE to reduce the risk of dangerous consequences. While in training, workers should be instructed on your company’s procedures for obtaining replacement PPE.
Periodic Reviews
Regularly revisit your PPE to look for inadequacies.
Accidents and incidents must be monitored and investigated. A written designated accident/incident reporting mechanism should be in place. Review each event carefully to ascertain whether PPE could have prevented the accident. If workers were wearing their personal protective gear, would a different type of PPE resulted in a different outcome?
As part of this process, employers should also review 300 Logs for injuries and illnesses which may indicate defects in the program, such as inadequate training, inappropriate PPE or show new hazards.
Selection
To reduce injuries and incidents, consider improving the quality of your PPE. General industry PPE must meet the categories of safety standards developed by American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Be sure that existing and future purchases meet ANSI standards.Personal Protective Equipment must be function well with other types of items if they are worn together and a good fit is essential.
For PPE programs to be successful, employees must wear the required equipment. Comfort should be considered, and so should style, as workers are more inclined to wear PPE that makes them feel comfortable.
Safety boots, often heavy, expensive and cumbersome can be particularly difficult for employees to wear. If staff need to protect their feet from falling objects or slips and falls, consider the Wilkuro Safety Toes Wilkuro Safety Toes.
This very successful footwear is CSA Certified, meets ANSI standards, and is acceptable to OSHA where puncture protection is not required. The Wilkuro Safety Toe slip on safety shoe is used over running or dress shoes, provides toe protection and slip resistance, is light-weight, comfortable, and is an appropriate option for workers who cannot wear heavy safety footwear every day.
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