TRAINING & EDUCATION LOOK SMART,


With so many PPE options available, simply following the basic guidelines and regulations may Marketing Director for Hyde, looks at the importance of train


Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an important requirement for any tradesperson, including tile and stone industry professionals. However, simply ensuring that yourself and your staff are kitted out with safety boots and high-visibility jackets may not be enough.


To ensure that health and safety is never truly compromised, it is crucial to have a good knowledge of the PPE available so that you can make an informed choice and select the most appropriate safety equipment for the user and for the job at hand.


Taking just a little time out to understand how the safety equipment works and the differences in the various solutions available is important. Not doing so could lead to simply throwing good money after bad and potentially leaving your workforce inadequately protected.


On the surface, one pair of safety boots may look like any other. Protective toe cap? Great, your toes should be okay if heavy tiles are accidentally dropped on them. But is that enough? The same goes for PPE such as kneepads. A tiler will spend a great deal of time on their knees, so cushioning them is important, but what is the best course of defence against common industry health concerns that have the potential to harm the work that you do?


Good training will cover all the basics you need to know and give some background to the general safety requirements. For safety boots, this should cover the difference between an SB boot and an SB3 boot. SB safety boots protect the toes against a 200-joule impact, which is the minimum legal requirement, but what you may not know is that this won’t ensure comfort or all-round protection for your feet. An S3 boot, on the other hand, will have features such as a padded tongue and protection at the back for the Achilles too, which is important as a tiler who is bending and stretching a lot. Once you’re trained up, you will then have an understanding of what the relevant symbols stand for on a new pair of boots and will be able to purchase the most suitable products, rather than being led on price.


Often too, training can deliver a level of awareness that research through PPE product brochures and marketing material can’t deliver. This is certainly the case with knee pads. Traumatic knee injury is a common complaint amongst tilers as many simply do without any form of knee protection or have ill-fitting PPE in place. But not having the right kind of safety wear will not only make you work less efficiently, but can really lead to some serious health concerns in the longer term.


Commonly known as ‘housemaid’s knee’, bursitis is one of the most painful complaints that results from frequently kneeling on hard, rough surfaces without the right protection. The most obvious symptom of this painful


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▲ BASE boots from Hyde have a flexible sole, to make them comfortable to wear even when bending.


condition is a swelling at the front of the knee, which feels a little like a small squashy orange. It may cause pain and redness over the front of the knee and makes it difficult to bend the leg, kneel down or even to walk.


Knee pads are quite simply the best defence against occupational knee injury, as they will disburse the pressure on the knees and prevent puncture wounds. However, with the right health and safety training in place you can ensure that the kneepads used fit well and that they will stay in place when moving around.


While the knee obviously takes most of the brunt when kneeling, other parts of the leg also need protection in order to avoid feeling the strain. Some of the most common kneepads offer protection in the form of foam padding, which works by compression and does little


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