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Tool
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PPE—If You Need It, You’ve Gotta Use It Today
the topic is safety clothing and equipment designed for our personal use as an
important contributing factor toward safety.
The abuse, misuse, or nonuse of such equipment, on the other hand, are
contributing causes to many disabling injuries. It
Depends on the Job The
particular type of equipment needed to provide the needed protection depends
on the particular type of work being done.
In areas where flying particles are likely to be found, goggles must
be used to protect the eyes. But this
won’t provide enough eye protection for an electric welder; that job calls
for a helmet equipped with dark glasses to protect the worker’s eyes from the
blinding light and the sparks from the electric arc. Similarly
the kind of protection safety shoes are supposed to provide determines what
type of shoe is appropriate. In other
words, it must be slip-proof, nonconductive, high-topped, steel-toed,
etc. And the type of safety helmet to
be worn depends on the type of hazard the wearer is likely to encounter. In some occupations “bump caps” may be
adequate; in many they are not. OSHA
Says The
regulations established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
for head, face, eye, hand, arm, and foot protection give a very general
overall description of when such protective gear is to be used. (Hearing protection devices and
respirators of various kinds are covered by more extensive and specific
rules.) They also describe the
standards the pieces of equipment must meet. Originally
these OSHA rules said only that the required personal protective equipment
must be provided (whether by employer or employee), maintained, and
worn. It was pretty much a matter of
our responsibility as employers to require the use of PPE and your
responsibility to actually use it.
This made a certain amount of sense because, after all, it’s your eyes
that can be injured if your safety glasses are hanging around your neck. But
then OSHA apparently decided that too many injuries were occurring as the
result of failure to wear protective equipment. So their revised rules call for what they refer to as a hazard
analysis—to make sure we systematically identify all the factors in our work
that would call for requiring PPE. On
top of that, it’s become the employer’s responsibility not just to state that
the equipment must be worn but to see to it that it is worn. No
Exceptions, No Excuses That’s
why supervisors are now getting “on the backs” of employees who aren’t
wearing the personal protective equipment they’re supposed to, and why
disciplinary action is forthcoming. But
it’s not just a matter of compliance.
It’s because we really don’t want you to be injured. That’s not totally unselfish—we don’t want
you hurt, and we do want you on the job.
That’s why we don’t make exceptions or accept excuses. If you don’t need safety headgear on your
own job, you must wear it if you go to an area where falling objects may be a
hazard. If your gloves or goggles
don’t fit snugly or are uncomfortable, don’t just leave them in your
locker. Report it promptly so the
situation can be corrected. |