Protective clothing is a necessity in many industries, to protect workers from potential hazards such as heat, chemicals, electricity, and physical injuries. As such, it is important for employers to provide their employees with appropriate protective clothing and ensure that it is worn correctly, to prevent accidents and injuries in the workplace.
Protective clothing can be a type of PPE (personal protective equipment), that can provide protection for workers when all other control measures can’t adequately eliminate or minimize risks to a worker’s health and safety. Protective clothing must be suitable for the nature of the work, and any risks associated with that work.
If you need help identifying your protective clothing requirements, you can follow these steps:
- Identify your risks.
- Analyse and categorize your safety risks.
- Review your current protective clothing solution.
- Identify your protective clothing requirements.
- Go beyond safety compliance.
IOD (Injured on duty) claims can be substantially reduced, or avoided, with proper protective clothing and control measures.
Incentives are offered by certain insurance companies to customers who reduce their risks, and companies’ profit margins should be boosted if the fall in claims outweighs those discounts.
Last, but nowhere near least – Comfort…..
Because PPE is an important and vital factor in mitigating safety risks, the proper fit of these items is essential for comfort. Make sure that all the appropriate PPE fits comfortably so that employees aren’t discouraged from using it!
To encourage greater PPE compliance, employers should invest in worker education and training programmes – get workers involved in PPE choice by asking what comfort and fit issues they experience with their safety gear. If employees like the way their PPE looks and feels, they are much more likely to wear it. And of course, being consulted also increases employees’ buy-in and commitment to using PPE.