Personal Protective Equipment

One of the simplest things you can do to work safely is to use personal protective equipment or "PPE". In general, PPE is not expensive, and use of the right protective equipment can prevent serious injury.

Personal protective equipment, or PPE, includes a variety of devices and garments to protect workers from injuries.

You can find PPE designed to protect:

• Eyes
• Face
• Head
• Ears
• Feet
• Hands and arms
• Whole body.

Equipment that might be used includes:

• Safety glasses, goggles, and face shields
• Hard hats
• Safety shoes
• Gloves
• Vests
• Earplugs and earmuffs

So how do you know if you need to use PPE? In general, a construction site can be expected to have a variety of hazards. The starting point is to learn about the hazards in your particular work site.

Take a look around your work site. Look for:

• Situations where a person could be injured because of a fall
• Equipment or tools that are used for cutting or drilling that could injure a person
• Equipment or materials that could produce flying particles
• Situations where tools or other objects could fall from above
• Situations where a person could be exposed to hazardous chemicals

This is not a comprehensive list, but it should give you an idea of the kind of things you should be aware of. While it is not likely that all of these hazards will be present all of the time, a little anticipation and planning can make a big difference.

The most basic types of personal protective equipment are:

• Eye protection
• Hand protection
• Foot protection
• Head protection