Protecting people

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The use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the Emirate of Dubai is mandatory under Local Order No 61 of 1991, Chapter 4, Personal Protective Equipment. Failure to provide and maintain PPE by any company may result in fines and other punitive measures being incurred.

But what is it and how can it protect the workforce?

What is PPE?

PPE is used throughout an industry as a means of safeguarding workers from a wide range of health and safety hazards at work, such as exposure to toxic substances or extreme temperatures, being struck by falling objects or being splashed by chemicals/molten metal. It can be summarised as an individual's protection of his/her head, eyes, hearing, lungs, hands, feet or body, generally by the means of specially designed devices and/or implements.

Work carried out as part of a PPM programme or emergency repairs within a facility will almost certainly require the use of some form of PPE for protection of an employee.

The appropriate PPE for the given task or situation must always be identified following the completion of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment taking into consideration the human factors involved in the job (i.e. the personal characteristics of the person carrying out the task), the environment in which the job is taking place and the policies and procedures set by the organisation for the management of health and safety (H&S) in the facility.

Due to the nature of PPE, each type brings with it a variety of problems that must be addressed via adequate training, if workers are to fully understand its uses and limitations. However, it must be made clear that PPE is not a universal solution to all safety needs and should be used as a last resort. Although it can offer essential protection to an individual carrying out a hazardous work activity, the hazard itself will still be present in the workplace. So while it is necessary to issue and wear PPE, the introduction of other control measures, such as engineering controls, reduces the reliance on PPE.

Control

The hierarchy of control measures must be applied before deciding on the use of PPE. Firstly, can removing the hazard eliminate the risk? If not, can it be substituted for one less risky? Can the aforementioned engineering controls be introduced to control the risk at source? If not, information, instruction, training and supervision must be provided.

These approaches may not completely eliminate all hazards and PPE will more often than not have to be issued to and used by the workers for protection, in conjunction with other control measures.

The marking and maintenance of PPE must be in compliance with the manufacturer's instructions or in such a way that the materials or methods used do not affect the integrity of the equipment.

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