Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Overview
The use of PPE is often necessary to protect employees from injury or illness caused by exposure to chemicals and other workplace hazards such as biologicals, radiation, physical, electrical, mechanical and temperature extremes. Many Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards in Parts 1910 through 1926 require employers to provide PPE to their employees and ensure the use of PPE. Some of these general standards require the employer to provide appropriate PPE wherever necessary to protect employees from hazards.
Using PPE is often essential, but it is generally the last line of defense after engineering controls, work practicies, and administrative controls are considered. Engineering controls involve physically changing a machine or work environment. Administrative controls involve changing how or when employees do their jobs, such as scheduling work and rotating employees to reduce exposures. Work practices involve training workers how to perform tasks in ways that reduce their exposure to workplace hazards.
Workplace hazard assessments must be conduct to document PPE requirements to protect employees if the hazards can not be eliminate through engineering or administrative controls or work practices. Contact Environmental, Health and Safety to conduct workplace hazard asssessment of your areas.
RIT has developed a Personal Protective Equipment Program in order to ensure that faculty, staff, and students are protected from workplace hazards.
Applicable Regulations
29 CFR 1910.132
29 CFR 1910.133
29 CFR 1910.135
29 CFR 1910.136
29 CFR 1910.137
29 CFR 1910.138
Management Requirements
RIT has established a written Personal Protective Equipment Program for employees who are wearing PPE. This program includes:
- Conducting workplace hazard assessments where PPE used;
- Selecting appropriate PPE based on workplace hazard assessments;
- Establishing written documentation on use procedures where PPE used;
- Providing PPE when required by the task or operation; and
- Ensuring PPE is properly maintained and disposed of.
Training Requirements
All RIT employees who are required to wear PPE will be provided training in order to acquire the understanding, knowledge, and skills necessary for the safe performance of their duties.
Training shall be provided to each affected RIT employee before they first wear PPE.
Each employee shall be trained to know at least the following:
- When PPE is necessary;
- What PPE is necessary;
- How to properly don, doff, adjust, and wear PPE;
- Limitations of the PPE;
- Proper care, maintenance, useful life, and disposal of the PPE; and
- The RIT Personal Protective Equipment Program.
Each affected employee shall demonstrate an understanding of the training specified and the ability to use PPE properly, before being allowed to perform work requiring the use of PPE.
When the employer has reason to believe that any affected employee who has already been trained does not have the understanding and skill required; the employer shall retrain that employee. Circumstances where retraining is required include, but are not limited to, situations where:
- Changes in the workplace render previous training obsolete;
- Changes in the types of PPE to be used render previous training obsolete;
- Inadequacies in an affected employee's knowledge or use of assigned PPE indicate that the employee has not retained the requisite understanding or skill.
The Personal Protective Equipment training presentation is provided by the RIT EH&S Department periodically through RIT's Center for Professional Development. If you can not make one of these training sessions, the training is also available online through this website.
In order for your online training session to be accepted by the RIT EH&S Department you must take a brief test at the end of the presentation and sign a certification statement. Please download the "Personal Protective Equipment Online Training Certification Document" from this website where you will enter your test answers and sign the certification statement. You must submit the Certification Document to the RIT EH&S Department located in Grace Watson for approval. If approved, the RIT EH&S Department will issue a Personal Protective Equipment Training Certificate.
