Preface
The objective of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Program is to protect all Bodine employees from the risk of injury by creating a barrier against workplace hazards. Personal protective equipment is not a substitute for good engineering, administrative controls or good work practices, but should be used in conjunction with these controls to ensure the safety and health of employees. Personal protective equipment will be provided, used, and maintained when it has been determined that its use is required and that such use will lessen the likelihood of occupational injury and/or illness.
This program addresses eye, face, head, foot, body, hearing and hand protection. A separate program exists for respiratory protection since the need for participation in this program is established through industrial hygiene monitoring.
The Personal Protective Equipment Program includes:
- Responsibilities of supervisors, employees, and safety management
- Hazard assessment and PPE selection.
- Employee training.
- Record keeping requirements.
- Responsibilities.
Responsibilities: Supervisors
Supervisors have the primary responsibility for implementation of the PPE Program in their work area. This involves:
- Overseeing that qualified personnel have evaluated appropriate hazards.
- Supervising employees to ensure that the PPE Program elements are followed and that employees properly use and care for PPE.
- Notifying management when new hazards are introduced or when processes are added or changed.
- Ensuring defective or damaged equipment is immediately replaced. Employees The PPE user is responsible for following the requirements of the PPE Program. This involves:
Responsibilities: Employees
The PPE user is responsible for following the requirements of the PPE Program. This involves:
- Wearing PPE as required.
- Attending required training sessions.
- Caring for, cleaning, and maintaining PPE as required.
- Informing the supervisor of the need to repair or replace PPE.
Health & Safety Management
The company is responsible for developing, implementing, and administrating the PPE Program. This involves:
- Conducting workplace hazard assessments to determine the presence of hazards, which necessitate the use of PPE.
- Conducting periodic workplace reassessments as requested by supervisors and/or as needed.
- Maintaining records on hazard assessments.
- Providing training and technical assistance to supervisors on the proper use, care, and cleaning of approved PPE.
- Providing guidance to the supervisor for the selection of approved PPE.
- Periodically reevaluating the suitability of previously selected PPE.
- Reviewing, updating, and evaluating the overall effectiveness of the PPE Program.
Hazard Assessment & Equipment Selection
OSHA requires employers to conduct inspections of all workplaces to determine the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) and to help in selecting the proper PPE for each task performed. Records of work area hazard assessments will be kept and updated as necessary.
Management, in conjunction with Supervisors, will conduct surveys of work areas to identify sources of hazards. Each survey will be documented using the Hazard Assessment form.
Once the hazards of a workplace have been identified, the suitability of the PPE presently available will be decided and as necessary select new or additional equipment which ensures a level of protection greater than the minimum required to protect the employees from the hazards. Care will be taken to recognize the possibility of multiple and simultaneous exposure to a variety of hazards. Adequate protection against the highest level of each of the hazards will be provided or recommended.
Protective Devices
All personal protective clothing and equipment will be of safe design and construction for the work to be performed and shall be maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition. Only those items of protective clothing and equipment that meet the National Institute Of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) or the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards will be procured or accepted for use.
Eye & Face Protection
Prevention of eye injuries requires that all persons who may be in eye hazard areas wear protective eyewear. All Bodine personnel will be issued safety glasses. Face shields will be issued to personnel who may encounter flying debris while water blasting or chemical splash. Face shields shall only be worn over primary eye protection (safety glasses or goggles).
Head Protection
Head protection will be furnished to, and used by, all employees. Hard hats are required to be worn on all job sites.
Foot Protection
Steel-toed boots are required to be worn on all job sites at a minimum. Metatarsal protective rubber boots (Water Blasting Boots) must be worn on all water blasting jobs.
Body Protection
Rain suits must be worn on all water blasting operations. If at any time the suit becomes damaged or torn, replace it immediately.
Protective suits must be worn in hazardous environments. The type of suit will be determined after examining and determining the type of hazardous exposure.
Hearing Protection
Earplugs must be worn in hazardous noise environments. Earplugs must be worn while operating or working with water blasting or vacuuming equipment. Many of Bodine's clients have hazardous noise environments where hearing protection must be worn.
Earplugs must be discarded and replaced whenever they become dirty. Wet earplugs should never be worn.
Hand Protection
Suitable gloves shall be worn when hazards from chemicals, cuts, lacerations, abrasions, punctures, burns, biological, and harmful temperature extremes are present. Glove selection shall be based on performance characteristics of the gloves, conditions, durations of use, and hazards present. One type of glove will not work in all situations.
The first consideration in the selection of gloves for use against chemicals is to determine, if possible, the exact nature of the substances to be encountered. Read instructions and warnings on chemical container labels and MSDS's before working with any chemical. Recommended glove types are often listed in the section for personal protective equipment.
Chemicals eventually permeate all glove materials. However, they can be used safely for limited time periods if specific use and other characteristics (i.e., thickness and permeation rate and time) are known. Safety Management can assist in determining the specific type of glove material that should be worn for a particular chemical.
Clients may have hand protection requirements based on the hazards that may be encountered. Bodine employees will comply with these requirements.
Cleaning & Maintenance
It is important that all PPE be kept clean and properly maintained. Cleaning is particularly important for eye, face and respiratory protection where dirty or malfunctioning equipment could cause a health hazard. PPE should be inspected, cleaned, and maintained at regular intervals so that the PPE provides the requisite protection. Personal protective equipment shall not be shared between employees until it has been properly cleaned and sanitized. PPE will be distributed for individual use whenever possible.
It is also important to ensure that contaminated PPE, which cannot be decontaminated, is disposed of in a manner that protects employees from exposure to hazards and is compliant with applicable regulatory requirements.
Training
Any worker required to wear PPE shall receive training in the proper use and care of PPE. Periodic retraining shall be provided to both the employees and the supervisors, as needed. The training shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following subjects:
- When PPE is necessary to be worn.
- What PPE is necessary.
- How to properly don, doff, adjust, and wear PPE.
- The limitations of the PPE.
- The proper care, maintenance, useful life and disposal of the PPE.
- Proper disposal of discarded PPE.
After the training, the employees shall demonstrate that they understand the components of the PPE Program and how to use PPE properly, or they shall be retrained.
Record Keeping
Written records shall be kept of the names of persons trained, the type of training provided, and the dates when training occurred. Training records shall be maintained for the tenure of employment.
