Equipment designed to help protect an individual from hazards
Occupational hazards
Physical
Chemical
Biological
Psychosocial
Hierarchy of hazard controls
Elimination
Substitution
Engineering controls
Administrative controls
Personal protective equipment
Prevention through design
Occupational hygiene
Occupational exposure limit
Exposure assessment
Workplace exposure monitoring
Study
Occupational toxicology
Occupational epidemiology
Workplace health surveillance
v
t
e
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, electrical, heat, chemical, biohazards, and airborne particulate matter. Protective equipment may be worn for job-related occupational safety and health purposes, as well as for sports and other recreational activities. Protective clothing is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and protective gear applies to items such as pads, guards, shields, or masks, and others. PPE suits can be similar in appearance to a cleanroom suit.
The purpose of personal protective equipment is to reduce employee exposure to hazards when engineering controls and administrative controls are not feasible or effective to reduce these risks to acceptable levels. PPE is needed when there are hazards present. PPE has the serious limitation that it does not eliminate the hazard at the source and may result in employees being exposed to the hazard if the equipment fails.[1]
Any item of PPE imposes a barrier between the wearer/user and the working environment. This can create additional strains on the wearer, impair their ability to carry out their work and create significant levels of discomfort. Any of these can discourage wearers from using PPE correctly, therefore placing them at risk of injury, ill-health or, under extreme circumstances, death. Good ergonomic design can help to minimise these barriers and can therefore help to ensure safe and healthy working conditions through the correct use of PPE.
Practices of occupational safety and health can use hazard controls and interventions to mitigate workplace hazards, which pose a threat to the safety and quality of life of workers. The hierarchy of hazard controls provides a policy framework which ranks the types of hazard controls in terms of absolute risk reduction. At the top of the hierarchy are elimination and substitution, which remove the hazard entirely or replace the hazard with a safer alternative. If elimination or substitution measures cannot be applied, engineering controls and administrative controls – which seek to design safer mechanisms and coach safer human behavior – are implemented. Personal protective equipment ranks last on the hierarchy of controls, as the workers are regularly exposed to the hazard, with a barrier of protection. The hierarchy of controls is important in acknowledging that, while personal protective equipment has tremendous utility, it is not the desired mechanism of control in terms of worker safety.
^"Personal Protective Equipment". Citation PLC. Archived from the original on 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2012-10-31. Personal Protective Equipment
and 27 Related for: Personal protective equipment information
Personalprotectiveequipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from...
use of personalprotectiveequipment (PPE) is inherent in the theory of universal precaution, which requires specialized clothing or equipment for the...
The PersonalProtectiveEquipment at Work Regulations 1992 are a set of regulations created under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 which came...
Respiratory protectiveequipment (RPE), also called protective breathing equipment (PBE) in the US, is a form of personalprotectiveequipment designed to...
Blunt trauma personalprotectiveequipment (PPE) protects the wearer against injuries caused by blunt impacts. For law enforcement, corrections, military...
equipment Medical equipment Military equipment Roman military personalequipment Office equipment Paintball equipmentPersonalprotectiveequipment Rolling stock...
Air Force Station. Subsequently, they entered the field of personalprotectiveequipment, paving the way for development of industrial protection suits...
radioactive and hence more dangerous than if it were not present. Personalprotectiveequipment (PPE) includes all clothing and accessories which can be worn...
A hazmat suit (hazardous materials suit) is a piece of personalprotectiveequipment that consists of an impermeable whole-body garment worn as protection...
material used to protect buildings during construction, or as personalprotectiveequipment (PPE). Tyvek is a nonwoven product consisting of spun bond olefin...
Personalprotectiveequipment serves an integral role in maintaining the safety of an athlete participating in a sport. The usage and development of protective...
Elimination Substitution Engineering controls Administrative controls Personalprotectiveequipment The priority should not be confused with effectiveness. The...
standpoint they are often treated separately. For example, personalprotectiveequipment (PPE) can be used to effectively shield a worker from the radiation...
gear, fire kit and incident gear[original research?]) is the personalprotectiveequipment (PPE) used by firefighters. The term is derived from the fact...
the intense radiant heat generated by burning fuels, firefighters wear protective ensembles that are coated with a silvered material to reflect heat away...
paste forms to avoid excessive formation of vapors. The correct personalprotectiveequipment must be worn when handling carcinogens. Ensure safety goggles...
by the latest approach known as standard precautions. Use of personalprotectiveequipment is now recommended in all health care settings. Universal precautions...
bodily fluids, using personalprotective coverings on exposed body parts improves protection. Breathable personalprotectiveequipment improves user-satisfaction...
safety clothing cannot protect a person from fallout radiation. However, protective clothing can keep fallout particles off a person's body, but the radiation...
and Health Administration. 2023-12-04. Retrieved 2023-12-04. "PersonalProtectiveEquipment". United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2023-10-05...
chemical hazards is a type of occupational hazard. The use of personalprotectiveequipment may substantially reduce the risk of adverse health effects...
nanomaterial, engineering controls such as proper ventilation, and personalprotectiveequipment as a last resort. For some materials, occupational exposure...
safety practice includes wearing protectivepersonalprotectiveequipment such as safety goggles. Personalprotectiveequipment alone does not provide sufficient...
wear protectiveequipment, a personal cooling system is required as a matter of health and safety. There are a variety of active or passive personal cooling...