The role of PPE in enhancing workplace safety culture

Creating a workplace culture that prioritizes safety starts with the leaders and it means ensuring every employee has the right PPE. Uniforms are not just to identify members of a group, it is also to keep them safe on the job and ensure proper performance, whatever the task may be.

This kind of equipment or outfit is known as personal protective equipment (PPE). The use and maintenance of PPE can help build and reinforce a culture that prioritizes safety in any workplace.

Furthermore, a culture of safety means ensuring employees and contractors have an understanding of the need for PPE, as well as having well-communicated policies regarding its use and care.

The level of illnesses, injuries and accidents that occur as a result of lack of PPE within the built environment is high despite the obvious danger. To keep people safe and protect facilities from liability, it is important to be methodical and thorough about safety.

This article seeks to provide pointers on how to build, enact, and maintain policies around proper PPE use and enhance a workplace safety culture.

It is the responsibility of employers to perform a hazard assessment of the workplace even if there is an assumption all potential hazards are already known. It is helpful to review every aspect of the facility to look for hazards. A checklist of what to look out for will be a good starting point.

Categories of PPE include: Eye and face protection, Head protection, Foot and leg protection, Hand and arm protection, Body protection, Hearing protection, Personal fall protection.

The Occupational Safety and Health Department in the Federal Ministry of Labour & Employment has a statutory responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the safety, health and well-being of workers in their various workplaces through inspections, accident investigations and awareness campaign.

As part of the PPE procurement process, it is important to involve them in this process whenever possible to ensure that whatever is purchased fits appropriately and is comfortable enough to allow them to do their jobs otherwise it may be counterproductive. Understanding how each PPE is maintained and how often it must be replaced should be factored into the cost of procurement.

The manufacturer is often the best source of information on maintenance. They often supply information on how PPE must be washed or cleaned, where and when it can be stored, discarded and replaced. This will impact the policies created and shared with employees.

Professional associations relating to each industry or organization have a role to play and will often have guides and tips for maintenance and replacement of PPE as well. They usually establish inspection standards for reviewing PPE periodically, and compose a checklist of what needs to be done in case of degradation.

It is important to consult with legal and regulatory experts in the industry to make sure policies fulfil federal, state, and local regulations. If necessary, write or re-write safety policies to make up for gaps and create templates for use whilst keeping those regulations in mind. Making PPE an integral part of safety culture is a multi-step process which requires safety policies to be user friendly and easy to implement.

The use of PPE to protect workers from hazards is an essential part of facilities’ management and doing so consistently can lead to a virtuous cycle where safety is treated as top priority.

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