Open HSI menu
Subscribe Login

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Article / Protection from PPE’s Pitfalls

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat and Flame
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips and Falls
  • Wellbeing at Work
  • Working at Height
  • Working Rights

MORE

  • Press Releases
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
Open HSI menu
Subscribe

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Article / Protection from PPE’s Pitfalls

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat and Flame
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips and Falls
  • Wellbeing at Work
  • Working at Height
  • Working Rights

MORE

  • Press Releases
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact

CATEGORIES

  • Article
  • Press Release
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat and Flame
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips and Falls
  • Wellbeing at Work
  • White Papers
  • Working at Height
  • Working Rights

Article

Protection from PPE’s Pitfalls

By Olga Doroshenko, Certification Company

| Read Bio

Published: October 26th, 2018

Share this article

Protective clothing is any clothing specifically designed, treated or fabricated to protect personnel from hazards that are caused by extreme environmental conditions, or a dangerous work environment.

Safety workwear is required in many of the professional activities of everyday life. Effective and adequate protection is important in many scenarios: from households, e.g. cleaning agents, peroxides, acids, bases, and paints; to agricultural hazards including fuel and pesticides; to pharmaceuticals and active ingredients in the medical sector; to hazards in industrial production including petrochemicals, chemicals, paints, adhesives and coatings; the manufacturing of many products such as light bulbs, cars, and semiconductors; during various emergency activities, such as boat, rail or road accidents as well as firefighting in an urban and industrial setting; and finally, military operations or in response to incidents of terrorism.

Minimum necessary protection

Q9sup7pknwe8zrkgzkdq - hsi -

In some cases, using safety workwear can lead to reduced productivity and discomfort. Besides this, the quality of products can reduce, due to the increased frequency of errors when working in protective clothing. To ensure comfortable working conditions, high performance and protection, the following considerations should be kept in mind.

Firstly, the thicker the material, the more effective its protection. However, when increasing the thickness of the material, there are also issues of stiffness of movements and discomfort for workers. A further issue associated with increasing thickness is the increased thermal load on the body.

Secondly, most protective materials possessing excellent chemical protection properties lead to an increased degree of discomfort and heat load, as they prevent the release of water vapour into the surrounding space (for example, water vapour released from breathing).

Thirdly, the higher the overall protection level of special clothing is, the more time is needed to perform a particular task and with this the probability of errors increases.

When choosing protective clothing, always take into account the nature of the work and choose the one that provides the minimum necessary level of protection. Even though the main goal of safety workwear is to shield, it shouldn’t be the only method to protect the worker. Furthermore, the environment should be adjusted as much as possible to a satisfactory safety level first, and only then the safety workwear should be used for better and extra protection.

Education and training

Safety workwear has its own peculiar properties. Each worker should get used to working wearing protective clothes. That’s why the education and training of working personnel is important.

The training should cover the following topics:

  • The nature and degree of danger
  • Conditions in which the protective clothing is used
  • What type of protective clothing is needed
  • Operating requirements and restrictions when working in protective clothing
  • How to properly remove, put on, customise and wear protective clothing
  • In case of necessity, degassing and decontamination of protective clothing
  • Signs and symptoms of exceeding the exposure threshold and damage to protective clothing
  • First aid and emergency situations
  • Proper storage, care and replacement of protective clothing

The training should include the listed questions, as well as any other relevant information. Definitely, before the final choice, workers should be able to test protective clothing designed to perform a particular job.

Hb56sic71jszz1dqnyas - hsi -

Workwear maintenance

To ensure effective use, protective clothing should be properly stored, cleaned and repaired.

Some types of protective clothing have a limited shelf life, or expiration date, and need protection from ultraviolet radiation, ozone, moisture, and high and low temperatures. In addition, some protective clothes cannot be stored folded. For example, when storing products from natural rubber, all the above precautions should be followed. As another example, the insulating suits made of polymer materials can be damaged as a result of being stored in the folded state, while they must be kept suspended on hangers. Manufacturers should provide complete information on the possibilities.

While workers wearing protective clothing should check it frequently, it is more advisable to provide the management system with the conduct of scheduled inspections (at appropriate intervals) to be carried out by special commissioners. During the inspection, certain criteria should be used that are related specifically to the conditions of use of protective clothing. Usually, however, protective clothing is checked for cuts and tears, holes, damage and destruction of the material. For example, gloves made of polymeric material for protection against liquids should be inflated with air and checked for leaks.

Cleaning of protective clothing should be carried out very carefully. Materials from natural fibres can be cleaned by conventional methods, if the latter are not contaminated with toxic substances. To clean protective clothing against the effects of water-insoluble chemicals, detergent solutions based on soap, detergent powders and water should not be used. The results of tests on clothing designed to protect against the effects of various pesticides show that conventional washing is not effective in this case. Also, dry cleaning is not recommended, since the required result is not achieved, and protective clothing can be damaged or contaminated with cleaning components. If the requirements for the procedure for cleaning protective clothing are not known, consult the manufacturer.

Most of the models of protective clothing cannot be repaired. For proper repairs and detailed information, consult the manufacturer.

Certification

The creation of world standards for protective clothing began in 1994 with the creation of an international organisation of technical committees for the standardisation of individual protective clothing and equipment. Most of the standards developed by this group and methods of testing the performance characteristics of clothing are based either on the European standards, or on relevant documents of other countries, for example the USA (ASTM).

In the United States and Canada a number of organisations issue their own standards, such as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in the USA and the Canadian Standards Organisation (CSA) in Canada. These standards have a strong impact on the economic performance and sale of protective clothing and, therefore, act as official standards.

In Europe, the production of personal protective equipment is regulated by the Personal Protective Equipment Directive 2016/425/EU. The Directive contains the basic health and safety requirements which protective equipment must meet. Depending on the application the protective equipment can protect the individual against noise, vibrations, contamination and electricity. Personal protective equipment must comply with essential safety requirements and must bear the CE marking.

As detailed in the following table on page 104, protective clothing has numerous standards.

- hsi -
- hsi -

Conclusion

Protective clothing is used in a wide variety of scenarios for possible hazards, and numerous standards have been developed for assessing protection against extreme temperatures or chemical effects on splash protective clothing.

To maintain their protective characteristics, appropriate care and cleaning of the clothing is required, strictly in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Contamination with dust and toxins can increase the risk of flammability of clothing from sources of open flame.

Like all protective equipment, protective clothing performs its functions only within certain parameters, and users should be aware of the restrictions on its use.

Share this article

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Olga Doroshenko, Certification Company

Certification Company is specialised in CE Certification and Regulatory Compliance Affairs. Its goal is to deliver European Union market access for manufacturers, importers and distributors. Certification Company uses its knowledge, experience and expertise to guide its clients throughout the complexities of product safety and regulatory compliance.

Connect with Olga Doroshenko, Certification Company

Visit Website

POPULAR POSTS BY Olga Doroshenko, Certification Company

Istock 1040928002 0 289 1686 3000 - hsi -

Article

Protection from PPE’s Pitfalls

Cirrus20dosebadge ppe blur 0 40 1687 3000 - hsi -

Article

New CE Regulations

Get email updates

Sign up for the HSI newsletter

Keep up-to-date through the power of email with Europe's largest audited safety magazine - delivering the latest news and products to satisfy all your occupational safety needs.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Article

 Thameslink Traffic Management Programme

Press Release

‘Working At Height’ Remains Biggest Danger

Press Release

“Uncertainty and Ignorance” Risks More Asbestos Deaths

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

HSI on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/HSIMagazine/

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

HSI on Twitter

hsimagazine HSI Magazine @hsimagazine ·
12h

👀 Did you spot Alphasense featured on the inside front cover of February's issue?

Visit HSI website and subscribe today, from as little as £30 a year, to receive your digital or print magazine!
https://www.hsimagazine.com/subscribe/#subscription-columns

#hsimagazine #alphasense #gassensing #magazine #subscribe

Reply on Twitter 1622958363981258756 Retweet on Twitter 1622958363981258756 Like on Twitter 1622958363981258756 Twitter 1622958363981258756

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE

Stay up to date with our newsletter

    • Keep up-to-date with Europe’s largest audited safety magazine

 

    • Delivering the latest news and products to satisfy all your occupational safety needs

 

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Subscribe

SUBSCRIBE TO HSI MAGAZINE

5 reasons to subscribe to our digital and print package

  • Stay up to date from anywhere in the world, with instant access to the latest issue straight from your phone, tablet or laptop.
  • Trust that you’re getting the best content from our range of internationally accredited authors.
  • Get full access to our archives and see how occupational safety has evolved with us over the years.
  • Enjoy our monthly newsletter curated with up-to-the-minute news and a selection of editor’s top picks.
  • Hot off the press and straight to your door – look forward to your own glossy copy of HSI, delivered five times a year
Subscribe View Subscription levels

STAY SAFE & INFORMED

Subscribe to the best health & safety articles, news, products and regulations

Find out more

Stay up to date with our newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

ABOUT

  • About HSI International
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us

YOUR ACCOUNT

Sign In Register Account Subscribe to HSI

RESOURCES

Request Media Pack

CONNECT

ACCREDITATIONS

Copyright Bay Publishing 2023. All Rights reserved.

Designed & Built by:
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT