Function, Fit & Form

If you have worked in most any kind of industrial or laboratory setting you have experienced the dubious pleasure of having to use some form of personal protective equipment (PPE). If nothing else most of us have had to wear safety goggles in school along with the ever classic and enduring lab coat. For many of us that may be where our experience stopped. Others have moved on into work environments that require various forms of PPE but have just fallen into using whatever is on hand, good or bad, without giving these devices any additional thought. However, as supervisors and managers, this is one of the simplest yet most critical mistakes we can make in providing a consistently safe work environment.

I am not going to go into great detail on how to select your PPE from a technical stand point as I will post a future course on just that topic but I do want to point out the three most critical aspects of a good PPE program: function, fit and form. If you can understand and address these three things you will greatly improve the acceptance and use of most any personal protective equipment.

Function - What ever you buy for your employees to use needs to meet current standards. Federal OSHA as established that they will use industry consensus standards as their base line for making sure each type of PPE actually provides the protection it is required to. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) provides the definitive standards for most PPE. As long as you purchase from a reputable vendor your products should be compliant. One final bit of advice, don’t cheap out. Never buy the lowest cost item because you will end up buy 2 or 3 times the number. Cost savings here are achieved through quality and employees having value in the equipment they use.
Fit - This should almost go without mention but supplying PPE that fits properly and as comfortably as possible is critical. Yet it has been my experience that this is the number one reason I am given for someone not using PPE and taking exposure risks as the easier way to do the job. S0 why can’t you get away with one size fits all, because there is no “one size”. In my current job I have people that range from xxs to xxxl and if a particular piece of PPE does not fit right I can tell you exactly what will happen. One, the employee will not use the equipment. Two, the equipment will not provide the required protection and many times will add risk of injury to the job; exactly the opposite of what you want!
Form - Now lets talk style. Yes, I said style. If you have even cracked open a safety catalog or gone browsing on the web you will notice something that safety supply company’s noticed years ago. People like to look good all the time. If you are currently only supplying the generic 1.50 plastic safety glasses I can guaranty that you’re having problems with employees not using them and if you’re not I can guaranty that you’re spending a lot of your time chasing after employees to make sure they are. Style plays as an important role is successful PPE use as hours of explaining job dangers. If people are pleased with what they are wearing and can develop a sense of independent pride you pretty much have them as long term users. Don’t get me wrong–I am not saying that you need to have the whole world open for selection but you do need to consult with your employees on options that fit within your price range. Then provide at least the top 2 choices for use in your business. You can even provide “special” selections as rewards for milestones in your safety program. These subtle badges of achievement can help provide some low cost incentives for people to establish positive behaviors.

Personal protective equipment should be your last line of defense in any safety program but it should not be your weakest. Remember these three things: engineer out the dangers if you can, next control the dangers if you can, finally provide working, comfortable (as possible), good looking PPE for everyone’s protection. I promise it will win you respect with your employees.¹