Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE as it is known for short, is equipment provided by your employer to protect you against risks to your health and safety. It should be of note however that they should not give you PPE in place of doing something else better to protect you, but maybe more expensive to do – PPE should be used as a last resort where there is no other way to protect the employee.
PPE can come in many forms, shapes and sizes – it may include safety gloves, safety boots, respirators, and safety goggles, depending on the risk to the employee. Employers have a duty to provide this equipment – this duty is encapsulated in regulations within the UK. Employers should not ask you to pay for your PPE or to make any contribution for it at all.
The duties placed on employers goes even further. It is no good an employer giving you PPE and not showing you how to use it – employers should issue proper instruction and training on the use of the PPE. They should also ensure that the PPE is properly maintained and stored so the PPE offers you the fullest protection it can. Employers may have policies and regular check systems in place to ensure that their duties are fully complied with.
PPE may not only protect against the one-off accidents, such as a laceration to the finger, it may also protect against ongoing risks to your health and safety. Examples of this may be anti-vibration gloves to avoid Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome, or respirators to avoid conditions such as asbestosis. So, it can be seen that appropriate PPE not only protects against those one-off incidents, but also from what can be life-threatening industrial diseases.
If you feel that your workplace is not acting in accordance with its proper duties regarding PPE, it would be advisable to make a more senior employee aware of it. If they fail to act upon your reasonable requests you may wish to consider proceeding with a grievance procedure – with something as important as your health, you cannot afford to let serious issues go by.
If you have suffered or are suffering from an accident at work or industrial disease as a result of a lack of PPE, it is advisable that you gain the advice of a specialist personal injury lawyer as soon as possible.
