Important Types of Personal Protective Equipment

Every year, there are almost 3 million workplace injuries that take place all across the country. These injuries occur on construction sites, inside of warehouses, and in other dangerous work areas.

Do you want to help your employees avoid sustaining an injury at work? You can provide them with all the proper safety training to prevent them from putting themselves into harm’s way.

You can also take things a step further and invest in different types of personal protective equipment. Personal protective equipment, which is sometimes referred to as PPE, can offer up the protection your employees need from head to toe.

Here are some of the most important types of personal protective equipment on the market at the moment.

Eye Protection

One of the very first types of personal protective equipment that people need to put on before working on a dangerous job site is something to protect their eyes. This can include anything from goggles to visors.

If nothing else, protective eyewear will prevent dust and other debris from getting into your eyes while you’re trying to work. But it can also provide you with the protection you’ll need in the event that something flies in the direction of your eyes.

You shouldn’t ever get caught putting in work on a dangerous worksite without something covering your eyes. Just make sure it’s not something that will limit your vision in any way.

Hearing Protection

The heavy-duty equipment that you’ll find on, say, a construction site is a lot noisier than you might even realize. You might get used to all the noise it makes after being on a site for a few minutes, but it can cause some real damage if you let it.

Working around very loud equipment can cause your hearing to suffer in the short term. You might struggle to hear things clearly when you go home after a long day working around noisy equipment.

But maybe more importantly, exposing your ears to noisy conditions over and over again can also cause long-term damage to your ears. You should cover them up with earmuffs or earplugs to muffle the sounds that surround you. It’ll work wonders for your ears.

Head Protection

When you think about head injuries like concussions, you might associate them with NFL players and other people who play a professional sport for a living. But it’s worth noting that ordinary people can also suffer head injuries when they’re at work.

If something were to fall and hit you in the head while you’re on a dangerous worksite, it could cause you to suffer a concussion or some other kind of head injury. It makes wearing head protection of the utmost importance.

A hard hat is a necessity on any worksite that features heavy-duty equipment. It’ll soften the blow if you’re ever hit by something in the head.

Hand Protection

If you spend your days working with your hands, hand injuries are going to be inevitable. Your hands will be covered with cuts, bumps, and bruises before you know it.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your best to limit hand injuries. You can do it by putting on a pair of gloves while you work.

They don’t have to be thick gloves, either. A simple pair of nitrile gloves will set your hands up with the protection that they need. You can shop now for them to experience the difference they make for yourself.

Foot Protection

Of all the different types of personal protective equipment, this one might just be the most underrated. People will load up on all the other types—like hard hats, protective goggles, and gloves—and forget all about wearing the proper footwear.

But you should not do this! You should instead invest in a pair of sturdy, steel-toed boots that will protect your feet if something ever falls on top of them.

You don’t have to settle for any old boots, either. There are lots of really comfortable options available that will offer you the support you need during a long workday.

Skin Protection

Your skin is your body’s largest organ. Are you doing your part to protect it while you’re at work?

Doing something as simple as putting on a long-sleeved shirt to go to work can help to shield your skin from potential danger. You can also try putting on sunscreen if you work out in the sun a lot with your arms and other parts of your skin exposed.

Respiratory Protection

You never know what in the world you might breathe in when you’re at work.

If you work on a construction site, you could be exposed to something like asbestos during a demolition job. Or if you work in a warehouse, there are all kinds of toxic fumes that could make their way into your body when you breathe air in.

There are types of personal protective equipment that are designed to provide people with the respiratory protection they need. From dust masks that cover your mouth to gas filters that cover your whole face, you can get as much protection for your face and respiratory system as you want.

Use All These Different Types of Personal Protective Equipment Wisely

No matter how dangerous a work site might be, you can steer clear of injuries with the different types of personal protective equipment listed here. They’ll protect your head, your toes, and everything in between from danger.

You should invest in as much PPE as you can when you work in risky conditions day in and day out. More than that, you should also make it a point to wear your PPE each and every time you step onto a work site.

It’ll take you a few extra minutes to prepare yourself for the danger that lies ahead. But it’ll be well worth it when you’re able to avoid injuries from occurring.

Interested in finding out other ways to protect yourself on a work site? Read the articles on our blog for more useful tips.