Personal Protection Equipment Articles

Below is a list of articles that have been published on this topic.
Click on the title to view the whole article

Comfort Based Safety - Protective Workwear Tailored to the Toughest Environments [Aug 2010]

The most challenging jobs - be they in oil and gas, or electrical utility - often require the toughest protective apparel. But the tougher the protective garment, the more discomfort can result in a ponderous workday, impinging on productivity or affecting compliance issues. The primary purpose of protective garments is protection, functionability and identification. Comfort, fit, style and overall wearability was never given adequate consideration, as we have gathered over these 40 years of exposure to the industry: innovations have not been able to pair the two factors of protection and comfort, resulting in unsafe operating procedures.

PPE Training - Continually Improving Health and Safety Performance [Aug 2010]

As a Health and Safety Professional I have often found that although personal protective equipment (PPE) is provided by management for employee use, the choice is not always cost effective or appropriate, e.g. it does not necessarily provide the correct type of protection, and it can be over prescribed. To assist companies in the introduction of PPE risk management and control measures, I have assisted in the development and introduction of a PPE training course, which will enable supervisors and employees to carry out PPE risk assessments and introduce simple management techniques to ensure that they comply with legislative requirements - and at the same time provide the most cost effective PPE solutions. The legal duties and obligations around PPE are The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992, which seek to ensure that where risks cannot be controlled by other means, Personal Protective Equipment is correctly selected and used.

Prevention is Better than Cure - Arm and Hand Protection in Industry [Aug 2010]

In industry, there are many and varying hazards and risks that if left uncontrolled could have the potential to cause harm to people, property and/or the environment. The greater the hazard potential, the higher the degree of risk will be.

Protective Eyewear - Spotlight on Design and Protection [Aug 2010]

Eyes are the most important sensory organs of the human body. Around 85-90% of all our sensory impressions are conveyed by sight, so it is all the more important to protect these sensitive organs from injury.

Respiratory Protection - Breathing Air for Life [Aug 2010]

An airborne contaminant is any type of material or gas that does not normally occur in the natural ambient atmosphere. Unlike other types of hazards in the workplace, airborne contaminants are often overlooked because of their small size and ubiquitous nature. You may not be able to see, feel or even smell them; however, the lungs are an extremely efficient sponge and quickly absorb oxygen as well as contaminants from the air we breathe.

Links to Products and Services

You may be interested in the following products and services on our sister site - OSE Directory.

Working Safely at Height - Method, Equipment and Training are Top Priorities [Aug 2010]

As the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and a major cause of accidents at work, Working at Heights presents many and varied problems. These can be overcome by ensuring all workers are properly trained in method and usage of the correct equipment for the task.

Ear Protection [Jun 2010]

Waste of money or good investment?

In noisy workplaces hearing must be protected with hearing protectors. Often the results are poor, however, which makes the ear protection a bad investment. The key to successful ear protection is the careful planning and deep understanding of things that can go wrong. Failing to do so means the numbers suffering hearing loss will  not decrease.

Height Safety [Jun 2010]

Industrial rope access developments in Singapore and South East Asia

At the Construction Safety, Health and Security campaign in Singapore, the minister of State for Trade, Industry and Manpower announced key initiatives to raise the safety and health standards of the construction industry in Asia. The speech stressed the responsibility of all stakeholders in ensuring safety in the workplace.

At the meeting, the minister addressed the need for a Fall Protection Plan, highlighting that over the last three years Singapore’s construction and marine sectors accounted for more than 70% of the fall from height accidents. The HSE substantiated this claim reporting 34 fatalities in the six months to September 2008 for the sector including construction.

Respiratory Protection [Jun 2010]

Relax and take a deep breath

An airborne contaminant is any type of material or gas that does not normally occur in the natural ambient atmosphere. Unlike other types of hazards in the workplace, airborne contaminants are often invisible because of their small size or ubiquitous nature. You may not be able to see, feel or even smell them, however, the lungs are an extremely efficient filter and quickly absorb contaminants from the air we breathe.

Air Quality [May 2010]

Occupational or Industrial Hygiene has its roots in the early 1900s and is defined as the RECOGNITION, EVALUATION and CONTROL of those factors in the workplace that may give rise to sickness and impairment of the workforce.

Links to Products and Services

You may be interested in the following products and services on our sister site - OSE Directory.

Seams Ridiculous ... [Nov 2009]

Martin Lill of Lakeland Industries looks at the whole issue of seam structure for disposable chemical protective garments.

The Useful Life of PPE [Aug 2009]

Testing Protective Workwear for Performance

Ranking PPE [Apr 2009]

Protective clothing used in the explosives industry

Part 1 of this paper¹ considered the ranking of body clothing employed as personal protective equipment (PPE) for explosives workers, when evaluated using a moving manikin. The apparatus, explosives sources used and calculation method were all the same in the present study, which examines the performance of a range of protective headwear.

Safety at Height [Apr 2009]

The challenges facing the height safety industry

When entering the world of height safety some 18 years ago, I was astounded by the range and complexity of available products for ensuring the safety of people who choose to work at height.

Training in PPE - Proper Use is Vital [Feb 2009]

Problem areas in fall arrest systems of the construction industry

In the construction industry, falls have been the most prevalent cause of worker deaths. In a study of construction worker fatalities occurring between 1985 and 1989, 33% of fatalities were attributed to falls (OSHA, 1990). More recent studies reveal that the number of fatalities attributed to falls has increased to about 36%.

Links to Products and Services

You may be interested in the following products and services on our sister site - OSE Directory.

Proper Selection of PPE [Jan 2009]

The importance of information systems

At many workplaces for example in the construction industry, the application of technical or organisational protection measures is often not possible. That is the reason why in the “hierarchy of prevention measures” the lowest risk control method, the proper selection of personal protective equipment (PPE) is so important.

Respiratory Protection [May 2008]

PPE Versus Airborne Particulates

In order to begin to prevent injuries to the respiratory system it is vital to understand and realise what level of airborne particulate or other elements are present in the working environment and of what type.

Working at Height [May 2008]

A Problem or an Opportunity? Part 2

In my earlier article, (February 2008), I looked at the problem and some of the solutions of working at height.

Creating a Safe Welding Environment [May 2008]

Methods, Dangers and Solutions

Welding shops were traditionally noisy, dirty places (Figure 1). Smoke filled the air, which always had that tangy smell of ozone to it and you needed constantly to avert your eyes from blue flashes as arcs were ignited. Periodically on a walk through any fabrication shop you would need to step carefully over trailing electrical and welding power leads, duck under protruding metalwork and dodge showers of sparks from grinding.

Fall Arrest Equipment [Oct 2007]

The science behind the myth

Of all the sectors of the safety market Fall Arrest is one of the most complex, with every different scenario requiring a different solution and a different level of understanding. It is also one of the least understood and most often poorly addressed areas of personnel safety, whilst remaining one of the few sectors where the result of a wrong product decision or poor working method will almost certainly result in the death of a worker should a fall occur.

Links to Products and Services

You may be interested in the following products and services on our sister site - OSE Directory.

Protective Gloves [Oct 2007]

Choosing gloves for specific applications

Appropriately selected gloves can provide users with invaluable protection against hazards that might otherwise cause injury. In order to achieve the best possible protection, however, it’s important to understand how gloves for protective applications are categorised and certified.

A Safe Pair of Hands [Sep 2007]

Demystification of disposable glove legislation

The use of disposable gloves in the general working environment is widespread. Indeed they are such a big part of our working lives that glove usage in Europe has increased, but most dramatically the US has increased from less than 1 billion to over 20 billion. We tend to use disposable gloves for either process protection from human-borne contamination or for personal protection and often for both reasons. However, as safety in the occupational environment becomes an increasing concern, do we really understand what level of protection we are getting?

R&D - Rip Off and Duplicate [Sep 2007]

The costs and benefits of low cost suppliers

This article examines the experiences of a leading UK manufacturer of fall protection components, following their investigations into potentially sourcing from Asian suppliers and also as a result of seeing more Asian suppliers becoming direct competitors. It is not to justify or even support protectionism, as it seems inevitable that Asian suppliers will flood this (and pretty much every other) market and after all, any qualified marketer will tell us it is product lifecycle that dictates that as volume demand increases then supply inevitably drives prices down and opens the market up for low cost manufacturers.

Hearing Protection [Sep 2007]

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Hearing protection is your final stop on the journey to control workplace noise and prevent people losing or damaging their hearing. Only when practical and managerial controls to reduce the intensity and duration of noise exposure have been exhausted should you consider hearing protection as anything more than a temporary measure.

Protective Helmets [Sep 2007]

Design principles, safety and performance

SATRA is one of Europe’s foremost European Notified Bodies for certifying protective helmets, and is able to carry out testing and EC type examination work using established European standards or in house developed test specifications. Deputy Chief Executive, Austin Simmons explains design principles and the tests involved.

Links to Products and Services

You may be interested in the following products and services on our sister site - OSE Directory.

Hearing Protection [Jul 2007]

Standards and testing methods

European EN 352 standards define testing methods for hearing protectors which satisfy the basic requirements of European legislation based on the New Approach. The basic requirements for the design, manufacture and use of hearing protectors against the harmful effects of noise are in Directive 89/686/EEC on Personal Protective Equipment of 21 December 1989. Directive 2003/10/EEC of 6 February 2003 defines the minimum health and safety requirements for workers regarding noise exposure.

Protective Workwear [Jul 2007]

Safe solutions for antistatic protective clothing

To many people, static electricity is little more than the shock experienced when touching a metal doorknob after sliding across a car seat or walking a carpeted room. But in the petrochemical and gas industries workers are often exposed to explosive and flammable conditions and the danger of Static electricity. The same is valid for firemen. Other examples are vehicle paint spraying workplaces, workplaces were handling fine organic dust such as grain flour takes place. In these environments you easily have flammable atmospheres. They occur when gasses, vapours, or powders are mixed with air.

EN388 Standard [Apr 2007]

Testing For Non-Standard Threats

The development of standards to compare the performance of PPE products has significantly improved the ability of safety managers to select appropriate PPE. From chemical resistance to fire and flame resistance, the standards have helped us determine the appropriate product for a given application. However, the standards cannot be solely relied on when making a decision. An adequate assessment must be made of how the standard should apply to the specific use. In other words, we need to use common sense. Nowhere is this more relevant than in the blade cut and the puncture tests associated with EN388.

Working at Height [Apr 2007]

Standardisation of complex design PPE

Working at height is work undertaken at a place where injury could occur should somebody fall from it (even if it is at or below ground level) - often involving the use of scaffolds, ladders, hoists, gantries or general roof work. Falls from height are the most common cause of fatal injury, and the second most common cause of serious occupational injuries in the UK. 46 people died during 2005/2006, compared with 67 deaths during 2003/2004. Many of these accidents could have been avoided if the right equipment had been available and correct working practices put in place.

Inspection of Height PPE [Jan 2007]

Just how competent does a person need to be?

Every year businesses invest large amounts of time and considerable sums of money in providing suitable systems for carrying out work at height.

Links to Products and Services

You may be interested in the following products and services on our sister site - OSE Directory.

Protect Your Welders [Jan 2007]

Anticipate potential hazards and provide adequate protection

Picture a man holding a face screen in one hand, an arcing rod in the other, enveloped in clouds of fume - that’s welding isn’t it? Well, no, not any more! This is a far cry from the modern workshop; welding covers a wide variety of processes each with their own requirements in personal protective equipment (PPE) and the risk to the health of the worker should be minimal.

To Grip and Not to Slip [Oct 2006]

Hand function and protective gloves

In work and play we use our hands to lift and move objects hundres of times every day. Keeping objects stable while grasping them is crucial.

Protect Your Head [Oct 2006]

To safeguard against injury wear the right hat

In a time of rapid technological development it is easy to forget that you have a very powerful portable computer with you all the time - your brain

CE Marking of PPE [Oct 2006]

Employers' obligation to protect their workforce

Since the implementation of the European Personal Protective equipment (PPE) Directive in 1995, SATRA has become one of the leading Notified Bodies for CE marking of PPE intended for supply within Europe and has been influential in the development of PPE related test methods and safety standards. SATRA’s testing and certification services now extend across all areas of PPE - from head protection to safety footwear, and everything worn in between. This article is intended to provide a background to the PPE Directive.

Falls from Height [Oct 2006]

There is still a vital need to protect workers

Although the total number of personnel being killed at work is on the decline, there are certain activities which are still of concern. Working at height, according to the HSE, remains the most common kind of accident in the workplace with falls from height accounting for nearly twenty five percent of deaths among workers across all industries.

Links to Products and Services

You may be interested in the following products and services on our sister site - OSE Directory.

Working At Height - Falls result from poor management control rather than equipment failure
EN388 Standard
Restrain Yourself - Improving safety in the use of portable leaning ladders and the use of restraint systems
Acceptance of Safety Footwear
Seams Absurd
Always Take The Weather With You
Above the Neck Protection