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What is Personal Protective Equipment(PPE)? PPE is anything you wear that can protect you against hazardous conditions. Personal Protective Equipment is important because it prepares you for health and safety risks and gives you extra protection in the event of an accident or against the elements. Safety is a major issue in industries such as construction, there are thousands of injuries yearly due to the lack of PPE. The purpose of Personal Protective Equipment is to reduce employee exposure to hazards when it is not possible to reduce risks to a feasible level. Importance of Personal Protection Equipment:
Hard Hats are an identifier of construction sites. Designed to protect against flying or falling objects that would otherwise impact a workers' head. Some hard hats are equiped with accessories such as face shields or earmuffs. Hard hats need to fit well, hard hats that are too big or too small are inappropriate for use. Eye and Face Protection are equally important as head protection. Metal work, wood work, hot work and air-tool operation require this type of protection. General laborers could also benefit from eye and face protection as there is usually debris on construction sites. Respiratory Protection is absolutely critcal on sites where toxic substances are present. Respiratory protections like respirators are created to protect from dust, fumes, paint spray, pesticides and other dangerous substances that could cause impairment after exposure. This type of protection needs to be used in environments with air contaminants. Construction work is very hands on. Along with hand injuries, occupational skin diseases such as contact dermatitis, skin cancers and other skin infections are also possible. Gloves are essential in this hands on intensive work. The most commonly used PPE include rubber gloves, cut-resistant gloves, chainsaws gloves and heat-resistant gloves. Gloves also help to avoid injuries when working with chemicals, glass, sheet metal, electricity, hot and slippery objects. Noise is often discounted as an occupational hazard since it isn't a tangable danger. About 82% of occupational hearing loss occurs from workers in the manufactoring sector. Using Personal Protective Equipment and wearing it properly is vital to avoid injury in the workplace. As a business it is your responsibility to ensure your workers and employees have the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment to be safe in their work environment. Some Examples of PPE include:
KTF Africa is a supplier of Personal Protective Equipment in South Africa Head over to KTF Africa to learn more about PPE in South Africa |