The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations

Again when the measures in Table 5.22 do not prevent, or provide adequate control of exposure there is a requirement to provide suitable personal protective equipment to accomplish it. This includes respiratory protection, protective clothing generally, footwear and eye protection which, in the UK, complies with the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992. All routes of exposure, e.g. inhalation, ingestion, absorption through the skin or contact with the skin, must be considered. 

OSHA does not have specific standards regulating the use of lasers, but rather cites the OSHA General Duty Clause (see Section 3.3.1) that covers all workplace hazards and also cites the personal protective equipment regulations as being applicable (29 CFR 1910.132,1910.133). ... 

Comply with the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992 as amended or... 

The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992 (PPE Regs) define the term personal protective equipment (PPE) as ... 

The above comments have been directed at general activity risk assessments. It is easy to forget that more specific assessments could be required in order to comply with (for example) the Manual Handling Operations Regulations, the Display Screen Equipment Regulations (which apply to display screens in use in site offices) and the assessment requirements within the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations. These are addressed in more detail later in this chapter. 

On April 6, 1994, OSHA published its final revisions to the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) standard in the Federal Register, Vol. 59, No. 66. With the implementation date of July 5, 1994, the regulation, applicable to the general industry, represented major changes in the selection and use of PPE. OSHA believes that through compliance with the PPE standard, safety statistics that track worker safety will improve. These improvements will add up to 712,000 lost workdays and 95,000 recordable cases. 

A worker s body may need protection against heat or cold, bad weather, chemical or metal splash, impact or penetration and contaminated dust. Alternatively, there may be a risk of the worker s own clothes causing contamination of the product, as in the food industry. Appropriate clothing will be recommended in the company s health and safety policy. Ordinary working clothes and clothing provided for food hygiene purposes are not included in the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations. 

The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations, SI 1992 No. 2966, HMSO, 1992. 

General requirements to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) are contained in the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992. However, there are specific requirements, which take precedence over these general requirements, which are contained in regulations dealing with particular hazards, namely ... 

All personal protective equipment, except respiratory protection equipment (which is covered by specific Regulations, such as COSHH, lead, etc) is controlled by its own set of regulations - the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations. A detailed summary of these Regulations is given in Chapter 20 and needs to be studied in detail with this section. The principal requirements of these regulations are as follows ... 

PPE must conform to the Personal Protective Equipment (EC Directive) Regulations 2002. 

The effect of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Work Regulations is to ensure that certain basic duties governing the provision and use of PPE apply to all situations where PPE is required. The Regulations follow sound principles for the effective and economical use of PPE, which all employers should follow. 

A short guide to the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992, INDG174, 1997, HSE Books ISBN 0 7176 0889 1... 

There are no specific OSHA training requirements for employee exposure to cold weather. However, 29 CFR 1926.21(b)(2) would apply during site preparation. The rest of the time OSHA s general industry personal protective equipment regulations would apply. See the personal protective equipment tab for more information. 

One hazard of wearing flame resistant (FR) clothing is that it can encapsulate the body, which can decrease the evaporative cooling effect. This forces the body to use extra energy and resources to get rid of that heat and keep the body s temperature at the optimum level. That is why it is important to select FR clothing that provides the proper protection and also that regulates skin temperature. (See the personal protective equipment tab for more information on FR clothing.)... 

The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 require employers and the self-employed to provide suitable protective equipment to operators wherever the risks to their health cannot be controll by other means. PPE should only be used as a last resort and only if engineering control measures are insufficiently effective. PPE should ... 

Before choosing any personal protective equipment which by virtue of regulation 4 he is required to ensure is provided, an employer or self-employed person shall ensure that an assessment is made to determine whether the personal protective equipment he intends will be provided... 

Specific legislation on noise in all places of work, including construction, is contained in the Noise at Work Regulations 1989. The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 require PPE to be selected according to criteria established in the risk assessment. Equipment provided must conform to EC standards. 

The general duties sections of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 require a safe place of work to be provided together with safe systems of work, and these may involve use of PPE. General requirements for provision, use, maintenance and storage of PPE are contained in the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992. Specific Acts, Regulations and Orders also contain requirements for PPE, and should be consulted for particular applications. 

There are certain situations in which you will need to wear personal protective equipment (PPE).The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations details the different types of PPE that are available and states when they should be worn. Your employer has to ensure appropriate PPE is available for certain tasks (e.g. gloves when working with solvents, face masks when cutting bricks, safety goggles when using a circular saw). 

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