Document 2Jx5DkE4EOQN9Yve97OJpjxBN

19--Personal Protective Equipment 2. Atmosphere (Air) Supplied Respirators 497 Hose masks Air line respirators Abrasive blasting respirators Air supplied hoods Air supplied suits Self-contained breathing devices Care of respiratory equipment Safety Belts Selection Belt care Inspection and testing 509 Lifelines Protective Footwear Conductive shoes Foundry shoes Explosives operations (nonsparking) shoes Electrical hazard shoes Special shoes Cleaning of rubber boots 514 Special Work Clothing Protection against heat and hot metal Flame-retardant work clothes Cleaning of clothing Protection against impact and cuts Impervious clothing Women's clothing and protection Cold weather clothing Special clothing 517 References 527 The OSHAct makes it mandatory for each employer to furnish to each of his employees a place of employment that is free from rec ognized hazards that can cause (or are likely to cause) death or serious physical harm to his employees, and to comply with occupa tional safety and health standards promulgated under the Act This places a burden on the safety pro fessional to take prompt steps to eliminate any hazardous situation he is faced with Ex tensive engineering revision of processing or manufacturing methods may be involved, oi only a simple change m materials handling methods may be necessary A machine so designed, for instance, that it effectively confines flying particles elimi nates a cause of accidents This is a more basic treatment of the problem than the use of goggles designed to prevent injury, for confinement stops particles at their source Reducing noise to acceptable levels by quieting down a machine or enclosing it is far superior than depending on personal hear ing protective devices (See Chapter 40, "Noise and Hearing Conservation ") Likewise, dangerous solvents, chemicals and other vapor or fume hazard substances should be confined to a pipe or closed tank, or their vapors or fumes should be exhausted mechani cally, instead of depending on a respirator to 466 protect an operator required to work in a hazardous environment Protection by me chanical means is generally more reliable than protection dependent upon human be havior If it is impractical to eliminate a cause of accidents by engineering revision or by safe guarding, or to limit exposure time to haz ardous dusts, mists, vapors, or excessive noise to acceptable levels by administrative pro cedures, use of personal protective equipment is mandatory Equipment Selection and Use Once the safety professional decides that personal protective equipment is needed, he must 1 Select the proper type of equipment, and then 2 Make sure that the supervisor sees to it that the employee uses and maintains the equipment correctly Selection of proper type After the need for personal protective equipment has been established, the safety professional is faced with the second prob lem, that of selecting the proper type Two criteria should be used the degree of protec-