Test your knowledge of OSHA’s personal protective equipment (PPE) standards- the reuirements, hazards, training, and types
The responsibility of protecting employees falls on both the employer and workers. The employer should provide all the necessary safety precautions—safety equipment, training, first-aid facilities and even vision and hearing screening programs—but employees must take safety seriously and use the protections provided.
Employers and workers should first eliminate any environmental hazards, and if that cannot be done, then engineering or administrative controls should be used to reduce the hazards to acceptable levels. If these controls do not work, personal protective equipment (PPE) should be used.
Personal Protective Equipment
The PPE rules for construction begin in the Code of Federal Regulations (29 CFR 1926.28). OSHA indicates that employers must require employees to wear appropriate PPE in all operations where an exposure to hazardous conditions exists and wearing PPE could reduce those hazards.
OSHA requires additional protections for using, selecting and maintaining personal protective and lifesaving equipment under Subpart E of the regulations.
In Subpart E (29 CFR 1926.95), OSHA specifies that certain equipment should be provided, used and maintained, including “…personal protective equipment for eyes, face, head and extremities, protective clothing, respiratory devices and protective shields and barriers.”
