Personal Protective Equipment
Foot Protection
It is important to take care of the feet by wearing the proper foot protection. There are 6 different types of ways a person can injure their feet.
- Impact - Sharp or heavy objects can fall on the feet and crush or puncture them.
- Compression - Toes and other bones can be broken if you hit them against something. Heavy objects can be placed on top or roll over the feet and crush the toes.
- Splashes & Spills - Liquids like molten metals, acids, or other damaging chemicals can spill onto shoes or boots causing chemical and heat burns.
- Electric Shock - It is important to wear shoes or boots rated for electric hazards.
- Slipping - Proper footwear can prevent slips and falls.
- Extreme Temperatures - To protect against burns or frostbite, use footwear that is waterproof and insulated against hot and cold exposures.
Types of Foot protection
- Nitrile: resists oil, animal fats, and chemicals.
- Neoprene: made of a rubber like material, resist oil, heat, rust scum
- Metatarsal: Shoes have a special guard that runs between the front of the ankle and the toebox.
- Reinforced shoes: The bottoms are made of a special flexible metal that resists punctures.
- Electric Hazard: These and heels are made of tough rubber with no exposed metal to conduct electricity.
- hygiene slippers and Sandals: Used by employees who must shower after work and throw away *Make sure to check the “ANSI” label to verify the shoes or boots are constructed to provide the protective features desired.
- disposable slippers after use.
- Protective Toe: Has a hard toe to prevent toe injury but may not protect all the toes or the long bones in the foot.
- Electrostatic Dissipating Shoes (EDS): Used in and near high-tech electronica and flammable or explosive atmospheres. These conduct built-up static charge to a grounded floor.
- Check the inside of your safety footwear for the “ANSI” label. This means your footwear has been constructed to provide specific protective features per the ANSI standard.
Hand Protection
While on the job our hands can come into contact with a multitude of hazards ranging from chemicals, oils, and solvents to moving machinery, blades and gears. This section is intended to identify levels of hand protection and proper hand PPE selection as well as steps you can take to ensure you are minimizing risk to hand injuries.
- Take off any rings, watches, or bracelets. This is extremely important to minimize getting caught in machinery especially if you are working with moving parts.
- When cleaning your work area, never use your hands to remove or clean shavings or chips. Save your hands by utilizing brush or shop vac. If you are cleaning up glass use a wet paper towel and a disposable glove.
- When the need for handling hazards with your hands use disposable glove such as nitrile clean up hazardous materials,chemicals, caustics(Acids), and concentrated detergents
- When electrical work is being performed it is always best practice to de-energize the unit you will be working on. However in the event that this is not possible you will need to acquire and wear insulated PPE for your hands
Types of Hand Protection
- Disposable Nitrile Gloves: these are best for instances where it is one type of use situation cleaning up minor biological or chemical spills. Additionally, minimize the use of latex gloves as SIUE does not advocate their use.
- Kevlar gloves: are ideal for working conditions where punctures may occur such as knife handling in kitchens or fabrication shops such as theater and automotive.
- Silicone Gloves: are great at protecting from burns in works areas such as kitchens and dishwashing rooms where the potential for steam burns are present.
- Leather Working Gloves: Ideal for industries that use welds to fabricate products or trades conducting weld repairs.
Respirator Protection
Respiratory protection planning should be a part of your PPE procedures. This will assist in identifying when a respirator is needed after all administrative and engineering controls have been exhausted. Respiratory PPE is meant to protect from atmospheric contaminants that would otherwise make you ill. In order to ensure the best protection is received when wearing a respirator please ensure that you are clean-shaven to ensure you have a full seal reducing the chance of contaminants entering system bypassing the respirator. Make sure respirators are inspected prior and after each use, checking for damage or wear. This check should include checking the expiration on your filtration cartridge. Lastly once the proper respirator has been purchased you should schedule a qualitative FIT test with your EHS office. This test is meant to check the quality of the equipment you will be using.
Types Of Respirators
- Air Purifying: filter out contaminants from the air you draw in (half face)
- Atmosphere-supplied respirator: clean breathable air from an uncontaminated source like an oxygen tank or SCBA, short for Self Containing Breathing Apparatus
Hearing Protection
According to OSHA 1910.95(noise exposure) regulations and the CDC hearing protection is required when you are exposed to decibels at 85dBA or greater in an 8-hour work day. A hearing conservation plan should also be in place for employees that fall under this category receiving annual hearing tests. This will address any hearing degradation and any steps needed to assist the employee. Engineering controls as well as administrative control options should be explored as the first line of protection.
- Formable foam earplugs are made of soft foam. Once inserted, these earplugs expand to fill your ear canal snugly. Formable foam earplugs are meant for one-time use, but they can be reused if they are clean and still fully expand to their “like new” shape.
- Pre-molded earplugs are made from plastic, rubber, or silicone. One type of pre-molded earplug is high-fidelity (hi-fi) earplugs, also called uniform-attenuation earplugs. They have the same effect as turning down the volume on a stereo: the sound intensity is evenly decreased across different pitches. You might find high-fidelity earplugs especially helpful at movies or concerts and at other times when you want to appreciate the audio quality while protecting your hearing.
- Canal caps have a stiff band that provides a gentle force to seal the earplugs, whether formable or pre-molded, into your ear canal. When not in use, the band can be worn around your neck.
Eye Protection
Like any other manufactured product, eye protection has material, engineering, and design limitations. But selecting the proper eye protection to match the specific construction hazard can help reduce the number and severity of eye injuries.
Types of Eye Protection
- Class 1 – Spectacles
- Class 2 – Goggles
- Class 3 – Welding Helmets
- Class 4 – Welding Hand Shields
- Class 5 – Hoods
- Class 6 – Face Shields
- Class 7 – Respirator Facepieces.
Head Protection
The employer shall ensure that each affected employee wears a protective helmet when working in areas where there is a potential for injury to the head from falling objects.
The employer shall ensure that a protective helmet designed to reduce electrical shock hazard is worn by each such affected employee when near exposed electrical conductors which could contact the head. Head protection must comply with the following standards,American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z89.1-2009, “American National Standard for Industrial Head Protection,” incorporated by reference in § 1910.6
