Ihab Saad – Personal Protective Equipment PPE

Welcome to another safety class, and today we're going to be

talking about personal protective equipment or PPE.

So how do we protect employees from workplace hazards? What are

the different methods that should be adopted to protect them from

any accidents or incidents? Employers must protect employees

from hazards such as phonic objects, harmful substances and

noise exposures that can cause injury.

The different methods to do that is, first of all, use all

feasible, feasible engineering and work practice controls to

eliminate and reduce hazards. So we're going to redesign our

process, the operation itself, trying to see if it can be done in

a different way that's going to be less hazardous to the employees.

And the second method is going to be to use the personal protective

equipment PPE, if the controls do not eliminate the hazards. So

if we've done our best, but still, the job is going to be hazardous,

like, for example, erecting steel for a steel structure. Of course,

people are going to be working at a higher altitude, and they do not

have any kind of protection. The operation cannot be

redesigned or can be arranged in a different way. Therefore we'll

have to rely on personal protective equipment to protect

them from falling in this case, therefore PPE is going to be our

last level of control, not the first, but the last. The

engineering controls that we talked about can include something

like initial design specifications, we can see if we

can change the designs. For example, if there's a hazardous

material that they have to deal with, is there any other material

that's less hazardous, or not hazardous at all, that can do the

same job, substitute that less harmful, substitute with less

harmful material. If, again, that can be provided change the process

or enclose the process, for example, if it's gonna be if

there's gonna be some fumes, if they're gonna be some sparks, if

they're gonna be some debris, if we can enclose it by putting some

shields around the operation itself, that can protect the other

employees on site or isolate the process. So all of these are

engineering controls that can be adopted in redesigning the process

itself to minimize the exposure of the employees.

So the work practice controls. If the employees can change the way

they do their jobs, and the exposure to the potential hazard

is removed, then the hazard can be eliminated with the work practice

control. Just to give you an example, when you are lifting a

heavy object, there's a proper way of lifting it and there's a wrong

way of lifting it. So the proper way is to bend the knees and to

let the legs carry the load, rather than the back. The improper

way, or the incorrect way of doing it, is to lock the knees and put

all the load on the back. So therefore, it's just to work

practice control without the provision of any personal

protective equipment or anything, just by teaching people how to do

the job in a more correct way that can reduce the amount of injuries.

So the

responsibilities in this case are going to be dual responsibilities.

There are going to be some responsibilities on the employer

and some on the employee. For the employer, you have to assess the

workplace for hazards, determine exactly where the hazards are. The

employer has to provide the PPE, that's part of the employee

responsibility if the employee is going to be subject to any of the

job hazardous hazards, and there's a PPE that can protect from these

hazards. Is the employer's job to provide that PPE and determine

when to use. What are the conditions for using that PPE and

provide PPE training for employees and instruction in the proper use

of that PPE, again, something like a gas mask, for example, or

something like air supply, you have to train people on how to use

it, because, by default, they wouldn't know how to use it

without having that proper training.

On the other hand, the employees responsibilities are going to be

to use the PPE in accordance with training received and other

instructions, and to maintain that PPE and to keep it a good working

conditions through inspecting it daily and maintaining it in a

clean and reliable condition.

Some examples of PPE personal protective equipment for the

different body parts, for example, for the eyes, we're going to have

the safety glasses, we're going to have the goggles. We're going to

have the welder's mask, for example, for the face. We're going

to have the face shield for the head. We're going to have the hard

hats for feet. We're going to have safety shoes or steel toe shoes

for the hands and arms. We might have different kinds of gloves,

depending on the operation, as we're going to see in a few

minutes, for bodies. We're going.

Have vests and for hearing, we're going to have either ear plugs or

ear muffs, depending on the sound intensity.

The PPE program includes procedures for selecting,

providing and using the PPE first assess the workplace to determine

if hazards are present. Again, that's the responsibility of the

employer, which is going to be followed by the employee as well,

or are likely to be present, which necessitate the use of PPE, and

after selecting the proper PPE for that kind of operation, provide

training to the employees who are required to use it.

If employees are required to use PPE train them, why is it

necessary? How it will protect them? What are its limitations?

Because, again, there's nothing that's foolproof, that's there's

nothing that's gone that that's got to provide 100% protection

without following the proper instructions when and how to wear

it, how to identify signs of wear if it's not working properly, and

how to clean and disinfect in case it gets contaminated. And what,

what is its useful life, and how is it disposed off? Because,

again, even the hard hat, when you look on the inside of the brim of

the hard hat, you gonna find a stamp that shows when it was

manufactured and for how long is it going to be? Is going to be

valid, basically because of the exposure to the ultraviolet rays

from the sun and so on, that can render the hard hat too brittle,

so in this case, it has to be replaced.

The first step is going to be the head protection, and the most

famous protection is going to be the hard hat.

Causes of head injuries include falling objects such as tools,

bumping head against objects such as pipes or beams on construction

sites, contact with exposed electrical wiring or components.

So hopefully, the hard hat is going to protect from all of these

to a certain extent,

the eye protection. And as you can see here, we have double eye

protections through the shield and through the goggles.

When must eye protection be provided? When any of these

hazards are present, present dust and other flying particles, such

as metal shavings or sawdust in wood operations or in welding

operations or cutting operations, corrosive gasses, vapors and

liquids, especially when working near chemicals, molten metal that

may splash again. Welding or foundry operations, potentially

infectious materials such as blood or hazardous liquid chemicals that

may splash and intense light from welding and lasers. In this case,

eye protection is going to be required. But as you can see from

this list, not every eye protection is going to protect

from all of these hazards at the same time, so each one has its own

kind of protection.

The criteria for selection include

what hazards are is it going to be protect against? Because, again,

of the specificity of these different PPEs, so protect against

specific hazards comfortable to wear. Because, again, if it's

going to be causing some irritation or some discomforting

wearing people are going to tend to remove it when weren't working,

and that defeats the whole process. Does not restrict vision

or movement. So again, it's going to allow for front vision and

lateral vision as well, durable and easy to clean and disinfect.

That's the job of the employee who's going to maintain that PPE

and does not interfere with the function of other required PPE. So

if you're going to have, for example, a gas mask or a an air

supply device or something like that, there shouldn't be any

conflict or any interference between the eye protection and any

other PPE, in this case,

ordinary glasses do not provide the required protection because

the lenses can shatter, for example, upon impact or upon being

hit by something, and they cannot provide the proper shading as

well. Proper choices includes, include prescription glasses with

side shields and protective lenses to cover the side of the eyes as

well from any any debris, goggles that fit comfortably over

corrective glasses without disturbing the glasses. So in

addition to wearing the glasses, you gonna wear the goggles on top

of them, and goggles that can incorporate corrective lenses

mounted behind the protective lenses. So it's gonna act as an

eyeglass and as a protective goggle. At the same time,

the safety glasses are going to be made with metal and plastic or

plastic safety frames. Most most operations require side shields,

like what you have here on this set of glasses, it has a wrap

around lens so.

Uh, foot protection here, for example, someone's working with

wood, or someone working with marble, or someone working with

tiles or whatever. That doesn't seem to be wood, it's probably

metal or something. So here we have the the shields for for the

feet, that protect the feet from any fawning objects.

When must it? Must it be provided when any of these are present,

heavy objects such as barrels or tools that might roll onto or fall

on employers feet, sharp objects such as nails or spikes that might

pierce ordinary shoes, and these are quite abundant on construction

sites, molten metal that might splash on feet, hot or wet

surfaces and slippery surfaces, any one of these would require a

certain kind of food protection.

So we have the safety shoes that are impact resistant. They have

impact resistant toes and heat resistant soles, which protect

against hot surfaces common in roofing and paving. For example,

some have metal insoles to protect against puncture wounds from

protruding nails, and they may be electrically conductive for use in

explosive atmospheres or non conductive to protect from

Workplace electrical hazards. So again, depending on the job,

you're going to find the proper

pair of shoes

for hand protection is mostly going to be gloves, and we're

going to have different types of gloves depending on the operation,

whether it's going to be cutting or chemicals or hot exposure, for

example. So when must hand protection be provided? When any

of these are present burns, the probability of burns, bruises,

abrasions, cuts, punctures, fractures, amputations or chemical

exposures, any of these are going to require the use of gloves or

hand protection to be used.

So for example, here we have two different types of rubber gloves.

The first one is nitrile, which protects against solvents, harsh

chemicals, fats and petroleum products, and also provides

excellent resistance to cuts and abrasions. So that's the primary

use for the nitrile or nitrile gloves. The second type is butyl,

which provides the highest permeation resistance to gas or

water vapors. So if it's not going to have any harsh chemicals, then

we can use the butyl.

A third type is Kevlar. Kevlar is very abrasion, resists resistant

material. So Kevlar, Kevlar protects against cuts, splashes

and abrasion. And finally, stainless steel mesh, something

like this, protects against cuts and lacerations. So here, this

person is wearing on one hand the Kevlar because it's more flexible,

and a stainless steel mesh to protect against a cutting surface,

like a knife, for example.

And then we have the full body protection, as you can see here in

this slide. This is called the hazmat suit, which is a hazardous

material suit that's used on some operations, where, here, for

example, they might be exposed to PCBs, which is a carcinogenic

material, or in some cases, asbestos or any other material

that can cause severe harm. So in environmental work, in general, a

full body protective suit might be used.

So the major causes of body injuries, intense heat, splashes

of hot metals and other hot liquids, impacts from tools,

machinery and materials, cuts, hazardous chemicals and radiation,

of course, radiation that's a very unique type, and is going to

require its own body suit.

So the body protection,

the criteria for selection is going to be to provide protective

clothing for parts of the body exposed to possible injury. The

types of body protections are going to include vests,

aprons, jackets, coveralls or full body suits.

Here are different examples.

So here we have the jacket, here we have the full body suit that

they even protect from radiation. And here we have the apron,

together with the gloves, of course,

and respiratory protection. There's there are some written

standard operating procedures. So you have to have written standard

operating procedures for the proper selection use and care of

respirators, which type is going to be suitable for which job, how

is going to be used, how it's going to be maintained, when is it

going to be replaced or replenished by.

Of the employee.

Now to make sure that this breathing protection works

properly, we're gonna have a qualitative Fit Test, which is

gonna be a chemical challenge, so to make sure that nothing is

penetrating through, so we're gonna have some irritant smoke or

saccharine mist or by tracks or banana oil. If the person can

smell that, can smell any of these, none of these, by the way,

are going to be too harmful to the person, even if they do penetrate

during that test. So the wearer is asked to move and speak during the

test to simulate the Fit during actual working conditions. If the

wearer detects the substance by irritation, smell or taste, then

obviously there's some leakage and the mass doesn't fit. It has to be

replaced.

The other one is going to be the quantitative Fit Test, which is an

assessment of the adequacy of respirator fit by numerically

measuring the amount of leakage into the respirator, because in

some cases, the gas might be odorless, it might be tasteless,

and still, it might be fatal. An example for that is carbon

monoxide, as we all know. So in this case, we need to know even if

a tiny amount escapes and leaks through the gas mask. In this

case, we need to know that and measure that amount.

So in summary, this is the conclusion of our lecture about

personal protective equipment. You might be exposed to additional

details through other lectures, like we have been, for example,

about fall protection, when we talked about the hardness and the

lanyard and so on. So employers must implement the PPE program,

where they first of all assess the workplace for hazards, identify

what these hazards are, use engineering and work practice

controls to eliminate or reduce the hazards before using PPE. So

that's going to be our first line of defense. Select appropriate PPE

to protect employees from hazards that cannot be eliminated, the

residual hazard then that we have to face, we're going to protect

against it, inform employees why the PPE is necessary, how and when

it must be worn. That's going to be done through different meetings

and different training. Train the employees on how to use and care

for their PPE, including how to recognize deterioration and

failure if it's not working or if it's not working adequately, it

has to be fixed, or it has to be discarded and replaced, and

require employees to wear selected PPE. So the issue of enforcement

of the use of PPE on construction sites is of extreme importance,

making sure that everyone's wearing a goggle or eye

protection, making sure everyone's wearing a hard hat if they're

exposed to falling objects, if their their feet are going to be

exposed to hazardous material, then they have the proper

footwear, and so on and so forth. That's basically our presentation

today about personal protective equipment. I'll see you in another

construction safety class. You.