PPE Essentials

Hard hats, eye and hearing protection, gloves, boots, and high visibility clothing, how to inspect them, and why PPE only works when it is actually worn.

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Equipment & tools · 29 CFR 1926.95

PPE is the last line of defense, the thing between you and the hazard after every other control has done what it can. It only works when it is on your body, in good condition, and matched to the task. A large share of eye and head injuries happen to workers who had the right protection available and were not wearing it at that moment.

Key hazards

• Falling and flying objects striking the head and eyes
• Dust, chips, sparks, and chemical splash to the eyes and skin
• Noise from saws, generators, and equipment causing permanent hearing loss
• Crushed feet and cut hands during material handling
• Being invisible to operators and traffic without high visibility clothing
• Worn out or wrong PPE, cracked hard hats, scratched lenses, and gloves that do not match the hazard

Safe practices

• Wear your hard hat wherever overhead work, rigging, or equipment is operating, and replace it after any impact or when it shows cracks or brittleness.
• Wear safety glasses as the site baseline, and add a face shield over them for grinding, cutting, and chipping.
• Use hearing protection around loud tools and equipment. If you must raise your voice to talk at arm's length, it is loud enough to damage hearing.
• Match gloves to the task, cut resistant for blades and sheet metal, chemical resistant for concrete, solvents, and epoxies.
• Wear safety toed boots with solid tread, and keep them laced and in good repair.
• Wear high visibility vests or shirts around equipment, cranes, and traffic, and keep them clean enough to actually stand out.
• Inspect PPE before each use, and swap out scratched or fogged lenses, torn gloves, and compressed or damaged ear protection.
• Store PPE clean and out of direct sun so the materials last.
• Ask for a replacement when gear wears out. Your employer must provide most required PPE at no cost to you, so there is no reason to stretch worn-out equipment.

Discussion questions

• Which task this week is most likely to catch someone without the right PPE, and what does that task actually require?
• When did you last inspect your hard hat and check its condition and fit?
• Is there any PPE that does not fit you well or gets in the way, and have you told anyone so it can be fixed?

If something goes wrong

• For an eye injury, do not rub the eye or try to pull out an embedded object. Flush chemical splashes for a full 15 minutes and get medical help.
• For a head strike, even one the hard hat absorbed, report it and watch for headache, dizziness, or confusion. Replace the hat.
• Report PPE failures to the foreman so damaged stock gets pulled and replaced for the whole crew.

Keep the record without the paper

Download the signed attendance sheet, then keep follow-up notes and photos in YakBuildHQ's timestamped project record — start free.