Document qa2K4qmkmYkoMNmBQXmz4979K

Personal Protective Equipment lions Satisfactory performance specifica tions exist for certain types of personal protective equipment, notably safety hats, devices to protect the eyes from impact and from harmful radiations, and rubber insulat ing gloves, but there are no approving lab oratories to test equipment regularly accord ing to these specifications Unless the safety professional has ample testing facilities available to him, he must rely upon the equipment manufacturers' endorsement for devices that may fill his needs Fortunately, the manufacturers have been aware of their responsibility in this re spect, and have a remarkable record of re liability Their representatives can usually Be called in to demonstrate their products and discuss their conformance to safety stand ards The succeeding pages discuss seven major areas of personal protective equipment-- head, eyes and face, ear, respiratory, hands, feet, and body Each section will provide the latest information on the standards avail able or proposed, some details about the equipment available, suggestions for select ing equipment to meet the job hazard, and some case histones in the development and use of specific devices Use equipment property The next problem is that of having work ers wear personal protective equipment, once it has been chosen Several factors influ ence the solution of this problem Among them are (a) the extent to which the men who must wear the equipment understand its necessity, (b) the ease and comfort with which it can be worn with a minimum of interference with normal work procedures, and (c) the available economic, social, and disciplinary sanctions which can be used to influence the attitudes of the men In an organization where workers are ac customed to weanng personal protective equipment as a condition of employment, this problem is minor The men are simply issued equipment which meets the require ments of the job and is easy to wear, and are taught how and why it must be used There after, periodic checks are made until use of the issued equipment has become a matter of habit with the workers When a group of men are issued personal protective equipment for the first time or when new devices are introduced, the prob lem may be more difficult The men will need to be given a clear and reasonable explanabon as to why the equipment must be worn Traditional work procedures may have to be changed If such changes are required, a good deal of resistance, justifiable or not, may be generated Also, workers may be reluctant to use the equipment because of bravado or vanity The practice of having supervisors and foremen try out new protective equipment and devices prior to actual adoption, and getting their comments and discussing the advantages, has been successfully used m many operations A good deal of the resistance to change can be overcome if the men are allowed to choose the particular style of equipment they will wear from a group of different styles which have been preselected to meet the job re quirements In some situations, it may be advisable to have a committee from the work force help select suitable devices Manage ment's desire to standardize on one stvle of equipment may not be realized immediately, and several styles may need to be stocked In the latter case, the cost, though higher than the cost of stocking only one style, will be small compared to the potential cost of ac cidents resulbng from failure to use the equipment For the convenience of their employees, some companies maintain equipment stores on the plant premises (Fig 38-1) Policies differ with respect to who pays for personal protecbve equipment The cost of eve protection equipment that has prescrip tion-ground lenses, such as safety spectacles, is often shared by worker and employer For instance, a National Safety Council survey showed that 27 per cent of the companies supplying employees with prescnphon gog gles gave them free, and 60 per cent assumed part of the cost or made them available at below retail Most companies do not furnish safetv toe shoes free Many industrial firms maintain shoe stores for the convenience of employees and make the shoes available at cost In some instances, to encourage purchases, safety shoes are offered at below-cost prices In some areas, shoemobile service is avail- 1144