TILING TOOLS & WORKWEAR


Experts from safety products supplier Reece Safety explore the key points to consider when selecting personal protective equipment and discuss what can happen if these are overlooked.


SAFETY FIRST


Health and safety strategies are vital for ensuring a safe system of work, particularly in the construction industry where the hazard risk is heightened. With this said, it is essential that each aspect of health and safety is considered, from providing a high standard of training to identifying potential hazards and ensuring the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) is worn.


Whilst PPE is just one aspect of a wider health and safety strategy, it is one which should not be overlooked.


The Correct Equipment


Selecting the correct equipment for the job at hand is especially important for ensuring the safety of construction workers. Without suitable equipment, the risk of injury occurring is significantly increased. Certain equipment may incumber the work, making it more dangerous to complete; whilst others may leave the worker unprotected from the associated hazards. When selecting the PPE for yourself or any of your employees, you must ensure that this is suited to the work, the individual, and any potential hazards.


One very important aspect to consider when choosing the correct PPE is fitting it to the worker. Ensuring that the equipment fits perfectly for the wearer can greatly minimise the chance of accidents occurring from things such as goggles obscuring vision or not protecting the eyes enough, loose clothing or helmets falling off or an ill-fitting or substandard face mask letting in fumes. For example, in a recent and tragic case, a floor fitter sadly died when using a highly toxic adhesive to secure a bathroom floor because his face mask did not provide sufficient respiratory protection. PPE should only be worn by the person it is fitted to, so it’s important to have the right amount of equipment available for workers.


Training


Before any construction work is undertaken, employees should be fully trained in how to complete their job safely, which includes the safe use of equipment relevant to their job, recognising safety signs and knowing how to safely communicate in the workplace. Another important


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consideration which may be overlooked, however, is to ensure employees are also fully trained on how to correctly use PPE.


Training employees on how to use the protective equipment will ensure that they are wearing or applying it in the safest way, increasing the protection the equipment will provide. It is important to highlight to employees during training that PPE does not remove the hazard and rather will only protect the worker should an accident occur as a result of it. The protective equipment should be implemented as part of a wider health and safety strategy, utilising things such as key storage solutions from Reece Safety to restrict access to certain areas or displaying appropriate safety signs.


Risk Assessments


Whilst risk assessments will be completed across site to identify potential hazards, it is important that these are referred to when choosing PPE. The initial risk assessment will outline which equipment is required; such as if the hazard is associated with chemicals, noises, falling objects or perhaps high voltage, the required protective equipment required will vary. It is important that risk assessments are regularly conducted to identify any new potential hazards and, as such, to make any changes in PPE requirements.


Compliance Checks


It can be common for things such as compliance checks to be overlooked by workers, however it is vitally important to ensure that all equipment, including PPE, is regularly inspected and checked for safe use. With a whole host of regulations and legislations which apply to the construction industry, it is vital to stay up to date and compliant, not only to ensure you remain within the law, but also to ensure the safety of yourself and your employees.


Compliance can cover everything from displaying safety signs to maintaining and checking all equipment as necessary by qualified personnel.


www.reecesafety.co.uk www.tomorrowstileandstone.co.uk


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