how strict are you and your employers on PPE

[Maddison]

i think over the last few years i have came to appreciate the need for it. for me personally wearing gloves and glasses as this is a site requirement where i am at the moment.. not getting those niggly little cuts all over my hands .and crap in my eyes when grinding etc. how do all you guys go wearing/not wearing them.. some bosses dont care and others do but im interested in how many of us bother to wear them even when its not a site requirement

 

[Pete999]

Well I think you would be stupid not to wear PPE, they are there for your protection, no brainer really

 

[Richard Burns]

I tend to be practical (which of course is not allowed now) about this and assess the risk of any job and use the appropriate PPE, if required.
Because PPE is a last ditch approach to protection the job should be designed such that minimum PPE is required, unfortunately the H&S approach is to use PPE at all times, but this is not consistent with the risk assessment approach.

I am not good at wearing breathing protection and should wear dust masks more often, hearing protection comes up occasionally and sight protection most often, though I tend to design the MS so that it is not required.
One area is grinding when hearing and sight and possibly breathing protection come in, I try and avoid needing to do this.
I rarely wear gloves because the nature of most of my work means that wearing gloves increases the risk level of other areas beyond the risk level of minor cuts to the hand.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I believe everyone should assess risks and wear appropriately. The permanent 5-point idea works against intelligent thought. Nothing worse than unnecessary PPE getting in the way and slowing you down, or increasing other risks. E.g. wearing hard hat in finished offices 'because on paper it's still a building site until handover.' If PPE rules. seem to be increasing my risks I'll challenge them as far as I need to get it resolved. On jobs I run, we apply industry good practice with lots of common sense. The HSE approach is sensible: tackle the major risks aggressively rather than wasting time on the trivial.

 

[singingfraggle]

You usually find that employers will tighten up on ppe after there has been an accident .like the other posts say look after yourself .As my boss says to my apprentice you are the most important person take care of number one

 

[trev]

The place I was subbing for a few weeks back was ridiculous, a hi viz to be worn at all times but no ear or eye protection.
Baileys had us all wearing gloves but because it's tricky to terminate cables wearing them we were allowed to cut the fingers out of them. So the point of that is what exactly?
Employers are now terrified of getting sued so go overboard on what should be a final line of defence.

 

[Knobhead]

As an apprentice I remember our training officer showing two of us how to make a SWA off. He had the full PPE on, all I can say he may as well used an axe. He couldn’t see or feel what he was doing. Some jobs PPE is a menace, I would never wear gloves in the machine shop, I’ve seen the aftermath of a glove getting caught in a lathe.

One I do regret not wearing was ear protection while photographing bands. Leaning on speaker stacks was not the best idea. I’ve a loss of range in my right ear.

 

[trev]

I went to see Bernie Tormé play at a local pub a couple of months ago and for the first time in my life my ears were hurting me the following day

 

[nickblake]

25 years working in the industry in those days ear protection wasnt done now with tinnitus i do regret it , im with richard risk asses the jobs i always wear eye protection when chasing or high risk jobs where flying bits are present , ear protection when needed and always wear a face mask when in lofts ,and after years of being on my knee's they are pooped , so now years on i wear knee pads,I have latex gloves for loft work and in the van its kitted out with barrier cream, hand wash and hand sanitizer i also carry eye wash in my first aid kit , dont forget in lofts you may be exposed to mouse and rat urine which can have not very pleasant consequences , with the likes of wells decease ... i wonder if priests wear knee pads lol

so to the younger of us risk asses and take precautions you only have one body protect it !!

 

[shanky887614]

As an apprentice I remember our training officer showing two of us how to make a SWA off. He had the full PPE on, all I can say he may as well used an axe. He couldn’t see or feel what he was doing. Some jobs PPE is a menace, I would never wear gloves in the machine shop, I’ve seen the aftermath of a glove getting caught in a lathe.

One I do regret not wearing was ear protection while photographing bands. Leaning on speaker stacks was not the best idea. I’ve a loss of range in my right ear.

if you do a lot of concerts guys dont bother with ear defenders

get some iem's

there not cheap but they can be used with radios etc and you can still hear normal conversations without them shouting

musician earplugs are cheap but not molded to your ears but are a good compromise

 

[Pete999]

25 years working in the industry in those days ear protection wasnt done now with tinnitus i do regret it , im with richard risk asses the jobs i always wear eye protection when chasing or high risk jobs where flying bits are present , ear protection when needed and always wear a face mask when in lofts ,and after years of being on my knee's they are pooped , so now years on i wear knee pads,I have latex gloves for loft work and in the van its kitted out with barrier cream, hand wash and hand sanitizer i also carry eye wash in my first aid kit , dont forget in lofts you may be exposed to mouse and rat urine which can have not very pleasant consequences , with the likes of wells decease ... i wonder if priests wear knee pads lol

so to the younger of us risk asses and take precautions you only have one body protect it !!

Yes young Jedi's feel the force Nick is right, I know from experience, tinnitus (ringing in the ears for those who don't know) bad back, knees, guess I'm just wearing out

 

[7029 dave]

Yes ppe should be worn, but the key is when to sign it off, in other words not all off it is needed, risk assess the situation.

 

[Dcf]

i put a pair of gloves on to put up some light fittings yesterday.
i felt like a snooker referee dusting the white ball down

 

[Besoeker]

A lot of good advice here.
Most of the sites we go to are industrial and we wouldn't get past the gatehouse without at least a hard had, safety glasses, high vis waistcoat, safety boots, agreed written risk assessment and method statements.

In addition, we have to have a safety passport which requires regular training from a third party provider. And regular site specific safety inductions.

All of the PPE has to be in date and we keep a register of what has been issued to whom, the date of issue and the date of expiry.

It is very much formalised and initially could seem a lot of hassle but you get accustomed to the procedures and it becomes just part of the job.

 

[trev]

It's site inductions that grind my gears, how many more times will I have to watch that bloody DvD?
On one site we were given the electrical contractor's induction then had to go into the next room to be given the Bomer & Kirkland one which was pretty much word for word.
I realise it's all about them not getting sued but if someone doesn't realise that a site is not an adventure playground then they shouldn't be on there

 

[nickblake]

Spent an hour and a half on an induction course took less than 5 mins to do the job expensive five mins

 

[Kamikaze]

You think that is bad? Due to a small £6.5 million indiscretion, every time I go to a particular installation now, they make me endure a three and a half hour induction. Even if I’m just changing a lamp on an outside light.:13:

 

[Silly Sausage]

You think that is bad? Due to a small £6.5 million indiscretion, every time I go to a particular installation now, they make me endure a three and a half hour induction. Even if I’m just changing a lamp on an outside light.:13:

Surely you must have mastered the art of painting eyes on your eyelids by now!!!

 

[Tiny Spark]

Well the place I used to work was a fairly safe enviroment so other than safety boots I rarely wore much else.
The only time I worse gogs was if I was grinding or something else equally bad for they eyes! (Drilling up with a 20mm into galv trunking always bad!)
The place I am now though its compulsary to wear eye gear on all the shop floor so they got me some perscription glasses which are basically the same as my normal ones but have polycarb lenses and plastic side shields.

Ive always been of the opinion that you weigh up the risks, And if theres a good chance something bad could happen then wear it.

 

[appspark]

I work mainly on commercial/industrial, we wont get on site without at least boots, hi vis and hard hat. Company say everything else must be worn, gloves/ goggles/hearing but we rarely do, il happily chuck on some specs when drilling above my head but they scratch so easy i believe they are a hazard to wear around the site, far too easy to trip over something. i wear gloves of my own accord anyway, fingerless so i can still work, just to stop my hands from getting scratched.
Hat will usually just get chucked once on site, unless there's work going on above me, i fail to see how in a new building if the steel roof falls in, my hat will protect me.
We currently have to do RAMS for every task, then they complain when you go to office to write them out as you aren't working.
Just can't please some folk.