THE SECRET TO PPE COMPLIANCE
Nigel Hewitt, New Business Development Manager for ERIKS, discusses the issues surrounding the traditional methods of PPE deployment and outlines a solution.
Personal Protective Equipment is a mainstay of sites and operations up and down the country, not least in the industrial manufacturing sectors. While the Health and Safety at Work Act, and the PPE Equipment at Work Act, make the employer’s responsibility for the provision of the correct equipment clear, enforcing it and ensuring compliance across the workforce, can prove taxing.
There are a number of roles and applications that demand the use of PPE equipment every day. However no matter how many controls and safe systems of work are in place, there are ultimately some hazards that cannot be controlled. It is important to note that the risk to people can be mitigated.
For businesses, there can be a number of persistent problems in terms of
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providing employees with the right equipment, when and where they need it and that comes before recording staff compliance. Whilst it can be difficult to guarantee 100% employee engagement with the health and safety policies of the site, it remains the responsibility of the employer to ensure adequate access to equipment and, to record compliance. Needless to say, in the event of an accident these records will be required and can help to determine whether the incident could have been prevented.
PPE DISTRIBUTION For many businesses, PPE equipment may be distributed in the same way as parts and spares – via a counter and a stores person, however some may not have the latter. In this situation employees are required to collect their own safety equipment, when they need it with a fairly simplistic
logging process. While the solution may be straightforward, it does have a number of potential flaws, namely:
• Location - a central storeroom is often located away from the operational floor, meaning that it is away from the day to day path of workers. Location can sadly mean the difference between them replacing a pair of gloves with a hole in them and leaving it for another day, when they have more time.
• Human error – one pair of gloves can look very similar to another, yet the purpose can be varied and safety can be called into question if the wrong pair is supplied. The same can be said for a number of items.
• PPE is not a one-size-fits-all solution - PPE equipment can come in a variety of sizes and ill-
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