Personal Protective Equipment is the last line of defence for workplace hazards so it is vital that it is used and maintained.
PPE is equipment that will protect the user against health or safety risks at work. It can include items such as safety helmets and hard hats, gloves, eye protection, high-visibility clothing, safety footwear and safety harnesses.
What are the HSE Requirements
Wherever there are risks to health and safety that cannot be adequately controlled in other ways, the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 require PPE to be supplied. The Regulations also require that PPE is:
- properly assessed before use to make sure it is fit for purpose;
- maintained and stored properly;
- provided with instructions on how to use it safely;
- used correctly by employees.
Common challenges
Managing an organisations PPE on commercially available spreadsheet software, is still the norm, and in some cases smaller PPE managers may even keep their records on paper. Paper-based records are hard to access and prone to loss and damage, while spread-sheet based systems entail significant administration effort.
Using the above systems will often mean being proactive is difficult in terms of PPE allocation and replacements, as spreadsheets cannot not send reminder tasks to administrators
Let systems drive management and maintenance
Having an intuitive system that can monitor plant, assets and PPE will enable a business to have visibility of the management of these items.
- Know who has what PPE and when it should be replaced, checked or maintained, an issue matrix ensures staff have been instructed on how, where and when to use personal protective equipment.
- Receive notifications for any PPE or plant related tasks and activities such as checks, servicing or planned preventative maintenance.
- Allocate PPE by job role to reduce cost and eliminate waste through unnecessary allocation of equipment.
- Track multiple actions against plant records (including statutory inspections) to ensure regular and ad hoc tasks are not missed.
If you would like to discuss how we can help your business manage PPE and plant challenges, click here.