Does Your PPE Program Meet OSHA’s Requirements? Part II

(As a reminder, PPE essential 1 is hazard analysis and essential 2 is equipment selection.)

PPE Essential 3. Employee Training

Section 1910.132(f)(1) requires you to train employees concerning each type of PPE before allowing them to perform any work requiring its use. At a minimum, your PPE training program must include the following information:

• When PPE is necessary
• What PPE is necessary
• How to properly don, doff, adjust, and wear PPE
• Limitations of the PPE
• Proper care, maintenance, useful life, and disposal of the PPE

The regulations [1910.132(f)(3)] also require you to retrain whenever:

• Changes in the workplace render previous training obsolete.
• Changes in the types of PPE to be used render previous training obsolete.
• Inadequacies in an employee’s knowledge or use of assigned PPE indicate that the employee has not retained the requisite understanding or skill.

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PPE Essential 4. Follow-Up, Reinforcement, and Enforcement

You have to accept the fact that no matter what you do, a few employees will still forget to use their PPE, ignore the rules, think that PPE is for wimps, or believe that accidents happen to someone else. Daily monitoring is essential to see that employees are actually wearing their PPE.

Try these suggestions to motivate your employees and keep your PPE program from going down the drain:

• Use a behavioral approach. As you walk around the department every day, give employees positive feedback for using PPE.
• Make it easy to get and exchange PPE. If it’s a hassle for employees to get PPE or exchange damaged or worn articles for new ones, they probably won’t bother and will opt for just not using it.
• Recognize and reward employees for using PPE. At safety meetings, praise employees for using PPE.
• Recognize proper use of PPE in performance appraisals. Be sure that employees realize that this will be part of their evaluations.
• Enforce PPE policies. Use discipline, if necessary, as a last resort to show employees you are serious about their wearing assigned PPE.

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Interactive, Computer-Based PPE Training

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Each lesson also includes completion certificates, sign-in sheets, evaluation forms, and training records. In short, it contains everything you need to motivate, reinforce, retain, and transfer new knowledge—and document that you did so.

In addition to PPE, other Safety Training Presentation topics include:

• Bloodborne Pathogens
• Back Safety
• Emergency Action
• Ergonomics
• Fire Prevention
• Welding/Cutting/Brazing
• Portable Power Tool Safety
• Scaffolds
• Lockout/Tagout
• Forklift Operator Safety
• Confined Space Safety
• Fall Protection
• Respiratory Protection
• and more!

Of course, training needs change as OSHA introduces new requirements or as new work practices and technologies bring new hazards. To cover this, you receive a new CD every 90 days you’re in the program, each containing five additional or updated topics.

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We’ve arranged for Advisor subscribers to get a no-cost, no-obligation look at Safety Training Presentations for 30 days. Feel free to try a few lessons with your own trainees. Please let us know, and we’ll be glad to set it up.

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