From the course: Understanding Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Selecting PPE

From the course: Understanding Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

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Selecting PPE

- [Instructor] Before you make a decision to use PPE, you should always give consideration to the alternatives. Safety professionals often refer to this as the hierarchy of controls, which is a way of looking at a situation and asking yourself, "What else can I do to make this safe "before I resort to PPE?" This acknowledges the fact that you really need to consider PPE as the last option. Meaning, there is nothing else you can do to make the situation safe, so you're going to wear PPE like eye protection or a respirator to protect yourself. That decision-making tree or hierarchy of controls has several different levels of consideration you should review before choosing PPE. Elimination and substitution are at the top of that decision-making tree, meaning that these should be our first choice if it's feasible. Ask yourself, "Is there a way to eliminate the hazard "before I insert myself into the situation, "or can I substitute something that's safer?" An example would be to use a cleaning solution that doesn't emit harmful vapors instead of using one that requires you to wear a respirator. Next on the list is engineering controls, which means, can I make physical changes to the environment to reduce or isolate the hazard? This could include things like erecting physical barriers to separate you from the hazard, or another example would be adding more ventilation or air-filtration to a space. Administrative controls are next on the list, and this involves changing the way you work or go about performing the task. A great example of this is working out in the heat. People from construction workers to professional athletes adopt administrative controls when they're out in the heat to limit their exposure by taking more frequent breaks in the shade. Now, finally, at the bottom of the tree is PPE. Why is this at the bottom? Because, quite simply, it is not as effective as the other options, and that's true for a variety of reasons. To be effective, PPE has to be used properly. So, the best respirator in the world will not be effective if it doesn't fit correctly. PPE also has to be cared for and maintained, and if it breaks or stops working suddenly, you can find yourself in the middle of a dangerous situation with your only form of protection gone. Please remember this when you're selecting PPE. Consider all the other options first. Hazard elimination or avoidance is always best. Sometimes you have to ask yourself, "Do I need to expose myself to this hazard?" Substitution, engineering controls, and administrative controls are next in that order. And sometimes you can use a combination of all of these solutions to eliminate or at least reduce the hazard. There are, of course, many situations where these solutions by themselves will not solve the problem, or sometimes they will solve most of the problem, but there may still be a risk, or there may be situations where you can't predict what may happen. Then, it is time to turn to PPE.

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