Protective Wear

Keep your Employees Safe with Branded Protective Wear

In many different businesses, it is absolutely essential for members of staff who perform certain tasks to be protected from harm by wearing protective wear.  Personal protective equipment, or PPE as it is referred to in the industry, is mandatory for many different tasks and is highly regulated. 

The new Occupational Health & Safety laws set high standards for these items, and it is vital that all protective wear is made from high-quality materials that offer the required protection from risk.  These laws help to ensure that staff members who perform tasks that are associated with certain risks are protected and prevent injury, death and expensive law suits.

All industries have their fair share of risk factors, and even in an ordinary office, you will find some risks, such as slippage during the washing of floors.  Other risks in factories of manufacturing environments are often more pronounced and obvious – falling objects, cutting with blades, heat, light, noise, toxic fumes, taking a fall – to mention but a few. 

For employers, it is vital to ensure that as many hazards as possible are mitigated or even removed where possible and PPE is only a last resort.  It is essential to put measures in place to eliminate or reduce the risk at the source, and often barriers have to be used to protect the person from the risk, such as screens, guards, rails, harnesses, etc.  If the risk cannot be eliminated, PPE such as gloves, glasses, gas masks, overalls, hard hats, boots, noise blocking, etc. are used as the last resort.  Legislation very clearly states what kind of protective wear applies to the various risks and it is important that employers know what to use in which situations. 

Risk Identification and PPE

It goes without saying that the first step in ensuring the safety of staff and assets during and after operation is to determine exactly what the risks are.  All companies are legally obliged to carry out extensive risk assessments with a professional risk assessor to determine all the risk factors and degree of risk for all the operations at that business. 

All processes and tasks within the operation are identified and analysed to determine the degree of risk and at what stage risk occurs.  Steps are then put into place to see if those risks can be eliminated without affecting the operation.  For instance, it is clear that cutting with a jigsaw carries a high risk of cutting the employee, but the elimination of the jigsaw may render the operation inactive, and it is then that measures have to be taken to reduce the risk as far as possible.  A finger guard has to be installed to ensure that fingers do not get close to the blade.  Risk can then be reduced even further with protective wear e.g. gloves and safety glasses, and proper training.

If you would like to know more about how protective clothing should be used at your business, contact our knowledgeable team today!