If you or your employees work in an environment containing potential chemical or physical hazards, it's crucial to invest in PPE. PPE, short for personal protective equipment, is designed to keep employees safe from anything that might cause them harm in the workplace. This includes things like chemicals, smoke, viruses, and more.
Thanks to recent phenomena like COVID-19 and its variants, PPE has never been more important. PPE includes things like goggles, gloves, face shields, respirators, footwear, and gowns that are designed to protect you from harmful contaminants in your environment. According to the Global Fund, PPE saves millions of lives each year, making it one of the most important investments in commercial businesses.
If you're curious and want to know more about the importance and benefits of PPE in commercial businesses, you've come to the right place. In addition to discussing the importance and benefits of PPE, we'll also discuss the different types of PPE and how to enforce the necessary protocols within your business.
What is PPE?
Personal protective equipment, better known simply as PPE, refers to special clothing, materials, and items designed to protect people from hazardous chemicals and falling objects. PPE has always been important, but it's become more important than ever in recent years.
In addition to protecting you from hazardous chemicals and materials, PPE also guards against flying objects, falling rocks and tools, and much more. Essentially, PPE is meant to protect you from any items, materials, pollutants, or contaminants in the atmosphere that could cause harm in the workplace.
What Purpose Does PPE Serve in Commercial Business?
While not all industries need or require PPE, it is essential for a wide number of commercial businesses. It can offer an extra layer of protection or security to people in the following industries.
- Healthcare
- Pharmaceuticals
- Manufacturing
- Construction
- Mining
- Electricity production
- Oil and Gas
- Laboratories
- Nuclear Power Plants
Essentially, any commercial business that deals with hazardous or potentially hazardous chemicals should enforce PPE requirements. Additionally, if your workplace presents the chance of physical calamities, such as construction sites or mining, PPE is essential.
Different Types of PPE
Because of the wide range of potential hazards in the world, there are several different types of PPE, including the following.
- Gloves if you're handling acids, viruses, contaminants, or things that could burn your hands.
- Gowns to guard against splashing or airborne viruses and contaminants.
- Goggles or safety glasses to protect your eyes from viruses, bacteria, germs, dust, and other objects.
- Booties so that you don't drag dirt or contaminants into a clean workspace.
- Face shields to protect your eyes and face when you don't want to wear goggles.
- Respirators so that you don't inhale viruses, pathogens, or airborne bacteria.
- Earplugs if you work in an environment with loud machinery or explosives.
- Helmets to guard against falling objects or tools that could result in head injuries.
- Hair nets to keep your hair and dander from contaminating food or medical supplies.
Aside from these standard items, there are other forms of PPE for specific industries. However, these are what people typically think of when they envision personal protective equipment, and they are the gold standard of the PPE industry.
Benefits of PPE and Why It's So Important
The most obvious benefit of PPE is that it protects you and your employees from danger. However, there are additional benefits that come when you invest in personal protective equipment for your commercial business.
Liability
While worker's compensation is something that business owners don't like to talk about, it's a very real possibility in certain industries. Therefore, it's important to do everything you can to make sure you aren't liable for injuries that happen in the workplace. By offering and requiring PPE for your employees, there's less of a chance that you can face legal ramifications when someone gets hurt or injured while violating PPE protocols.
Having adequate PPE also protects you from legal ramifications and fines due to violating PPE protocols and requirements.
Long-Term Protection
In addition to the immediate protection offered by PPE, it also guards against potential long-term injuries and conditions. Many lung problems, for example, stem from inhaling asbestos, smoke, chemicals, and other airborne contaminants that don't show immediate symptoms. This is also true with chronic illnesses that could be prevented with PPE.
Improved Confidence and Morale
It's no secret that people are more productive and happier when they feel safe. Therefore, by having the right PPE equipment and protocols, your employees will feel safer and more secure in the workplace. This, in turn, will lead to increased confidence and morale.
Increased Productivity
As a by-product of increased confidence and morale, your workers will also be more productive. Proper PPE will also keep your workers healthy, resulting in fewer missed days due to sickness and illness, leading to even greater productivity.
Less Turnover
The main reason that people pursue new work opportunities, aside from career advancement, is because they feel unsafe or unsatisfied in the workplace. By offering your workers PPE and encouraging its use, they will feel like you care about them just as much as the business. Therefore, they will be less likely to quit their job and pursue other opportunities, resulting in less employee turnover.
How to Ensure Proper PPE Protocols at Your Business
While PPE offers increased protection and safety in the workplace, workers aren't always on board with wearing it. Certain types of PPE can be uncomfortable or interfere with the ability to do one's job. This can lead to PPE violations or people choosing not to wear certain types of equipment. Therefore, here are a few ways to ensure proper PPE protocols for your commercial business.
- Invest in equipment that is comfortable and doesn't interfere with one's ability to work.
- Help your workers understand the risks involved with not wearing PPE.
- Enforce light punishments or penalties for people who repeatedly violate PPE protocol.
- Lead by example and always wear PPE in the workplace.
When you lead by example, invest in equipment that people feel productive and comfortable in, and help your workers understand the importance of PPE, they are more likely to adhere to your safety protocols.