The chances of occurrences of hazards at the work place cannot be ignored. So, each employee should be provided with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) as per Section 19 of the Constitutional Safety and Health Act 1984.

Categories of Personal Protective Equipment

Personal Protective Equipment can be considered in the following different categories.

Respiratory safety

Chemicals, dust can enter inside the body through breathing thereby causing chest pain, headache and other symptoms related to breathing problems. Therefore, respiratory safety equipment like disposable filtering half mask, half mask, full face mask, etc. are necessary.

Eye Safety

Following equipment are used to protect the eyes −

• Safety glasses
• Eye shields
• Goggles
• Face shields, etc.

Ear safety

Hearing protection equipment are necessary to protect the eardrums if the noise or sound level exceeds 85 decibels. For the protection, equipment like earplugs, semi-insert ear plugs and ear muffs can be used.

Hand safety

Harmful substances and chemicals can get absorbed into the skin thereby causing bruises, cuts, abrasion, etc. To avoid these, hand safety equipment can be used such as gloves, finger guards and arm coverings.

Foot Safety

In plant areas, falling from height, rolling down, crushing or penetrating pointed material are more common. To protect the foot from all these, employees need the following −

• Safety toe shoe
• Metatarsal guards
• Toe guards
• Leggings
• Studded treads, etc.

Head Safety

Protecting employees from potential head injuries forms the major part of any safety program. Therefore, employees are provided hardhats. The hardhats are divided into three categories

• Class A (Vol res up to 2.2k volt)
• Class B (Vol res up to 20k volt)
• Class C (provide protection against light weights)