MySDS mobile iconMobile menu

Personal Protective Equipment: Are you covered?

Back
Share This Post
Linkedin

Personal Protective Equipment: Are you covered?

Personal Protective Equipment

Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE as it is often referred to, is more than just a suggestion, it’s the law. PPE is safety equipment worn in order to use certain products and perform certain jobs in the safest way possible once all other options have been exhausted. These options include elimination, substitution, engineering controls and administrative controls. Although it may seem obvious as to which PPE to use for certain tasks i.e. using hearing protection while operating loud equipment or safety glasses when cutting or grinding metal, it can come as quite a surprise to see some product’s PPE requirements.

Personal Protective Equipment can include:

  • Headwear/Hard Hats
  • Hearing Protectors
  • Safety Glasses/Goggles
  • Respirators/Masks
  • Face Shields
  • Gloves
  • Body Belts, Harnesses, and Lanyards
  • Chemical/Personal Protective Clothing
  • Fall Protection - Travel Restraint System
  • High-Visibility Safety Apparel
  • Safety Footwear

In 2017, the Association of Workers Compensation Boards of Canada reported a staggering 251,625 lost-time injuries, 326 work-injury related fatalities, and 625 occupational disease related fatalities. Under the OHSA, Occupational Disease/Illness is “defined as a condition that results from exposure in a workplace to a physical, chemical or biological agent to the extent that the normal physiological mechanisms are affected, and the health of the worker is impaired.”

An important factor to remember is the maintenance of your PPE. For example, a respirator will need regular maintenance, changing the filters as often as stated on the filter packaging, as well as cleaning the face mask after each use. If PPE is damaged, or left without regular maintenance it is no longer going to protect those using it.

The Ministry of Labour in Ontario has scheduled an initiative focusing on PPE running from January 6 to March 13, 2020. During their last blitz focused on PPE in 2017 the MOL issued 7,483 orders from January 1 to December 31.

Is your workplace compliant with the PPE requirements?

Find the legal requirements for PPE in the workplace in Ontario HERE.

MySDS.ca offers Safety Audit services and training programs. We also provide PPE information for every product in our clients' personalized online library of Safety Data Sheets!

Safety Audit services

Back
Municipalities
The MySDS
Price Guarantee

If you find a lower price for a comparable service, we will beat it by 10%.* Contact us today, and start saving money today!

Get Started Today
*Subject to price match proof. Terms and conditions apply.

Posts you might like:

Potential Hazard in the Workplace: AMMONIA

Exposure to high levels of ammonia in air may be irritating to a person’s skin, eyes, throat, and lungs and cause coughing and burns.

Read More >
Personal Protective Equipment: Are you covered?

Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE as it is often referred to, is more than just a suggestion, it’s the law

Read More >
4 Tips for a Less Toxic Holiday

With the holidays quickly approaching it can be easy for us to get caught up in the whirlwind of holiday festivities..

Read More >
What Have We Learned? - Asbestos

Asbestos “is a term that refers to six naturally occurring silicate minerals. All are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals; each fiber being

Read More >
Our MySDS logo: What's all the buzz about?

A simple shape that holds a lot of meaning. A honeycomb shape, or hexagon, can often be spotte

Read More >
MySDS is a Quadshift company