When working in a hazardous setting, workers' safety should always be the first concern. This implies that when picking personal protection equipment (PPE) for their staff, supervisors should evaluate all of their alternatives to guarantee a safe and comfortable work environment.
However, knowing what traits to look for in PPE for different businesses might be tricky. Fortunately, there are some traits and circumstances that are universal across many sectors, making it easy to choose the proper equipment for your requirements.
1. Climate
The climate in which employees will be working is one of the first things you should think about while choosing the correct PPE. If you choose PPE that is too heavy for a hot area, your employees may become exhausted, and accidents will be more likely. Workers may become uncomfortable if PPE is purchased that is too light for a cold region, which can impair coordination and lead to injuries and lower production throughput.
2. Level of Risk
Another thing to think about is the risk level of the work that the person wearing the PPE will be doing. As a supervisor, you must consider the risk of the manufacturing process in which this individual will be involved.
You'll require high-level PPE if your employees are working in an environment where heavy annealed glass is often moved around. Workers are at risk because half-inch annealed glass can shatter and become as sharp as a knife. To avoid a catastrophe in this situation, they would want PPE with a higher level of cut protection.
3. Industry
The PPE you should choose is influenced by the industry you work in. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all tool, so be selective when selecting protective equipment for your employees.
For example, some PPE apparel contains wire in the yarn, which can be lethal if workers are exposed to electricity or work in an electrically hazardous location. Similarly, if a fire is present, your personal protective equipment should not be constructed of HPPE (high performance polyethylene), as it might melt into the skin and inflict irreversible harm.
4. Cost of PPE
When it comes to purchasing PPE, cost is a major factor, especially as a firm grows larger.
Several factors influence the price of personal protective equipment.
The level of resistance, whether cut-resistance, electrical-resistance, or flame-resistance, is the most common cost-determining factor.
5. Proper Fit & Sizing
Making sure that the equipment is adequately sized for each worker is maybe the most ignored consideration when buying PPE. Loose clothes keeps workers comfortable in a lot of vocations that require manual effort. Baggy garments, on the other hand, can readily become trapped in machines or on passing automobiles, with potentially disastrous consequences.