When should you wear personal protective equipment?

All hospital staff, patients and visitors should wear PPE when there is contact with blood or other body fluids, as well as when exposed to airborne illnesses, such as COVID-19. Employers must ensure that each employee follows PPE guidelines and that equipment is adequate to protect employees from hazards, even when an employee provides their own PPE. The battle against the global pandemic requires frontline people, including doctors and nurses, to wear isolation gowns to protect themselves from contracting the virus. To ensure that your PPE fully performs its function, it is essential that your workers understand its proper use, maintenance and disposal to protect themselves (as well as the people they serve, in the case of healthcare workers).

Personal protective

equipment may include items such as gloves, goggles and safety shoes, earplugs or armbands, helmets, respirators or coveralls, vests, and full body suits.

PPE safety is the practice of ensuring a safe work environment for employees and visitors through the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Safety officers and supervisors use personal protective equipment (PPE) safety checklists to help identify tasks that require PPE, ensure personnel use the right equipment, and reduce overall damage. If personal protective equipment doesn't fit properly, it can mean the difference between being safely covered and being exposed in a dangerous way. OSHA's COVID-19 Safety and Health Topics page provides specific information on protecting workers from coronavirus during the ongoing outbreak.

Effective use of PPE includes properly removing and disposing of contaminated PPE to avoid exposing both the user and others to infection. When used correctly and with other infection control practices, such as washing hands, using alcohol-based hand sanitizers, and covering when coughing and sneezing, it minimizes the spread of infection from one person to another. Even if PPE successfully protects you while you are wearing it, improper removal and disposal of contaminated PPE can expose the user and others to infection. PPE can also protect patients who are at high risk of contracting infections through a surgical procedure or who have a medical condition, such as an immunodeficiency, from exposure to potentially infectious substances or material brought by visitors and healthcare workers.

All personal protective equipment (PPE) intended for use as a medical device must comply with FDA regulations and must comply with applicable voluntary consensus protection standards. By using iAuditor for PPE inspections, safety officers can protect employees from occupational hazards by ensuring that their PPE is always in good condition. Even when the world isn't dealing with the widespread impact of a pandemic, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is important in all work environments because it helps prevent injuries, illnesses and deaths.