Personal Protective Equipment

Lesson 8 - Personal Protective Equipment

1. Explain according to OSHA the importance of personal protective equipment.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a critical component in the safety program of most organizations. OSHA requires the use of personal protective equipment to reduce employee exposure to hazards when engineering and administrative controls are not feasible or effectivein reducing these exposures to acceptable levels. Employers are required to determine if PPE should be used to protect their workers.
If PPE is to be used, a PPE program should be implemented. This program should address the hazards present; the selection, maintenance, and use of PPE; the training of employees; and monitoring of the program to ensure its ongoing effectiveness.

2. Mentionpersonal protective equipment and the OSHA regulation.

The OSHA regulation 29 CFR 1910 Subpart I states that:
Protective equipment, including personal protective equipment for eyes, face, head, and extremities, protective clothing, respiratory devices, and protective shields and barriers, shall be provided, used, and maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition wherever it is necessary by reasonof hazards of processes or environment, chemical hazards, radiological hazards, or mechanical irritants encountered in a manner capable of causing injury or impairment in the function of any part of the body through absorption, inhalation or physical contact.
Some personal protective equipment are: face shields, safety glasses, hard hats, safety shoes, goggles, gloves, coveralls, vests andearplugs.

3. Mention the strategies for accident prevention.

Some of the most common accidents in the workplace happen as the result of slipping and falling. Therefore, these are strategies for preventing slips and falls:
• Review and analyze accident statistics to determine where slip and fall accidents are happening and why; then take the appropriate corrective measures.
• Monitor thecondition of walking surfaces continually and make appropriate preventive corrections immediately.
• Use safety mats, nonslip flooring, and slip-resistant safety shoes.
• Make sure that spills are cleaned up immediately and that the underlying cause of the spill is corrected.
• Conduct periodic audits of walking surfaces throughout the facilities in question, document carefully thefindings, and take appropriate action in a systematic way.

4. Mention the protective equipment against falls.

Many workers mistakenly assume that they will have time to regain their balance before a fall, or that they can arrest their fall in the event of an accident. All too often, this is not the case. Considering that employees typically drop over 30 feet in 1.5 seconds, workers seldomhave the opportunity to avert their falls. As a result, employees working at elevation rely on personal protective equipment, or PPE, for fall protection. For industrial settings, OSHA regulations require personal protective equipment on job sites where employees walk or work on surfaces with unprotected sides or edges 4 feet or more above a lower level, and where guardrails and safety nets are notin use. For construction and the building trades, the height limit is raised to 6 feet limit in the absence of guardrails and safety nets. PPE is so important that OSHA regulations now require employers to provide workers with personal protective equipment for fall protection.
PPE can perform either a fall restraint or fall arrest fall protection function. Fall restraint systems use some form oftethering system measured so that workers cannot go beyond the edge where the potential for a fall exists. These are sometimes referred to as travel restraint systems. Fall arrest systems protect workers from hitting the ground or obstructions below the work platform after a fall.
Some examples of personal protective equipment designed for fall arrest and fall restraint include: full body...