Enhancing Safety Through PPE
Personal protective equipment, or PPE, is an essential line of defense for workers, protecting them from mechanical, physical, electrical, chemical, radiological, or other workplace hazards.
Employers must assess their workplaces to determine if hazards are present that require the use of PPE. If such hazards exist, employers must select protective equipment and require workers to use it, communicate their protective equipment selection decisions to their workers, and select PPE that properly fits their workers.
Employers must also train workers who are required to wear PPE on how to do the following:
■ Use protective equipment properly,
■ Be aware of when personal protective equipment is necessary,
■ Know what kind of protective equipment is necessary,
■ Understand the limitations of PPE in protecting workers from injury,
■ Put on, adjust, wear, and take off PPE, and
■ Maintain protective equipment properly
OSHA’s primary PPE standards are in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 1910, Subpart I, and equivalent regulations in states with OSHA-approved state plans. Other protective equipment requirements are in the General Industry Standards.
