Acting as a last line of defense against injury for employees, personal protect equipment is often the only thing protecting employees from dangerous equipment, faulty systems, mislabeled tools, and themselves. No safety guideline can prevent employees from all faulty machinery or from human error, but properly utilized personal protective equipment can lessen the damage in an emergency situation, and can save an employee’s life in many situations.

Unlike normal safety procedures which generally involve external devices to detect or deter accidents and faults, personal protective equipment is generally worn by the person at risk. And while a system can shut down, a facility can lose power, and a label can fall off, basic personal protective equipment like gloves, body suits, helmets, or glasses are generally not susceptible to these same worries. And as helpful as all of these systems and procedures are, if an employee misuses a tool or enters an area by accident, it can become easy to trigger an event which falls outside of the normal scope of a safety plan, leaving the employee at risk.

It is in these situations that people are most at risk, because they are left alone with no systems in place to protect them. And while many employees put themselves in these situations on a daily basis, few are ever actually injured or killed when they are wearing appropriate personal protective equipment. This equipment is easily the most important safety mechanism available, as it protects the employee at the time of an accident, after the failsafes have all failed.

So if you have not reviewed your personal protective equipment recently, and are concerned you could be using outdated or damaged equipment, please contact us so that we can review your procedures and equipment to determine if there are any violations or unsafe practices. Should you have anything to add about the importance of personal protective equipment, please leave a comment.