Personal Protective Equipment (or PPE for short) is essential in many occupations. Any equipment or clothing you need to keep you safe in the workplace is covered by specific regulations relating to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment. Such equipment can range from gloves to prevent contact with irritant chemicals in a kitchen, to hard hats on a building site, or to breathing apparatus for dealing with asbestos.
One example of where PPE is very important is when it comes to knees. A great deal of professions involve getting down to low heights and small spaces; so kneeling on hard floors may be a common thing for you. Plumbers do it to get beneath sinks; carpet fitters do it to lay the carpets; anyone who needs to work at low heights is likely to do the obvious thing and kneel on the floor. But is that safe?
Most people probably don’t consider the damage that can be done to your knees by kneeling down for extended periods of time. By kneeling down and working in crouched positions, trauma can be caused to the knee joint over and over again, which in turn causes injuries like cartilage wear and tear, build up of fluids, or common conditions like beat knee (or carpet layer’s knee, coal miner’s knee, or housemaid’s knee as is it also known as). The trauma that can be caused by repeatedly staying down on your knees on a hard surface can be significant.
So how is this issue tackled? Well as you might have guessed it from the title of the blog! There is specific PPE that can be used to knees your knees safe at work. Knees can be easily injured as it is, so it’s important that you look after them as much as you possibly can.
There is a strict duty on employers to make sure that proper and effective PPE is provided to you to allow you to carry out your working duties. It’s not for you to assess whether you need it, and it’s definitely not for you to provide it – it’s your employer’s responsibility to provide, maintain, and train you in the use of PPE at work. For your knees, you should have knee pads and / or mats on the grounds to cushion ad protect your knees when you need to work on them. If you are asked to carry out a task without PPE, you should speak to someone about getting it before you carry out the task. Work tasks that could cause injury to you should be risk assessed to necessary PPE can be provided.
If you injure your knees at work due to you employers failure to provide you with effective PPE, you may have a claim for personal injury compensation. Give us a call on our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 today.
