Beyond the Basics: The Complexities of PPE Selection in Industry

Personal Protective Equipment can be a minefield and navigating the industry and vast number of manufactures and supplies out there can be daunting. Finding the right product to suit your industry specific needs is not always straightforward. There are many variables which fundamentally present challenges when getting PPE right.

Accurately assessing workplace hazards is crucial, creating a risk assessment to identify the hazards will ultimately eliminate or reduce the risk, which is the key aspect of a risk assessment itself. ?However, as we all know PPE should be the last line of defence when the risk cannot be eliminated completely.

Comfort and usability must be considered in selection of PPE. Being involved in PPE trials as an operator when working on the shop floor and as an H&S practitioner comes with two different perspectives.

As an operator the main consideration is if its comfortable and does it protect me in the way it’s designed to. Does it prevent me from harm and from the hazard my work duties require me to carry out.

An H&S practitioner sometimes must consider additional aspects. Yes, comfort and usability are key, any discomfort can considerably discourage consistent use among workers. But other factors actively influence selection of PPE far beyond comfort.

Firstly, supplier reliability is a dominant factor in PPE selection. What may have worked for one industry doesn’t always work for the next. Some companies have increasingly developed and developed quickly. Where starting off they may have made do with “Del Boy” traders with a few boxes of gloves in the van showing up at the end of the month. One week you may have a pair of marigold gardening gloves the next a completely non dexterous stiff welding glove.

Now we deal with high functioning and high-performance organizations who have industry specific specialties and patented designs. PPE is a billion-dollar industry with a substantial global market. With suppliers trying to break into different markets and meet diverse consumer demands.

Consistency is key and as an H&S practitioner involved in PPE selection, ensuring that when you have been entwined in the long process of supplier selection, trailed the vast “industry specific” gloves or garment, communicated with your staff and selected the product only to find out that there is insufficient stock at the supplier’s warehouse, the factory has burned down, or someone has blocked Suez Canal again. You can fundamentally get the best glove on the market but if your suppliers can’t get you your PPE on time and in full it’s time to look elsewhere.

Inventory management and stocking issues are also a consideration during PPE selection. A good stock controller/ handler at both ends of supplier and product user is worth its weight in gold (or quite literally worth its weight in adequate PPE). Maintaining optimal PPE inventory levels is challenging. Overstocking can lead to increased costs and storage issues, while understocking can result in shortages during critical times. Implementing efficient inventory management systems, such as automated tracking and demand forecasting, can help balance supply and demand effectively. ??

Year in and year out more and more emphasis is placed on sustainability and what large organizations are doing to reduce carbon emissions and reduce their waste. The Department of Health and social care alone disposed of 2.87 billion excess PPE items in 2023. Further information provided by the environmental impact study found that 69% of discarded waste on British beaches was PPE. Manufactures are trying to branch out and manufacture PPE that is more widely recyclable or made with recycled materials. ???

?Ethical decisions can also influence PPE selection. A significant proportion of PPE is manufactured in countries with varying labour standards, which raises other concerns such as worker treatment and rights. Selection of PPE suppliers who pedal cheap and inadequate PPE contribute to both global manufacturing and ethical concerns, (take the multiple PPE scandals surrounding the covid outbreak). PPE selection should have traceability with suppliers adhering to ethical practices and maintain transparency in their supply chains to uphold corporate social responsibility.

As you can see there is a lot to consider surrounding PPE selection. One thing to consider is the effective trialing of PPE. It’s important to understand where your PPE comes from and how it is manufactured and sourced. Communication with your employees and involving them in aspects of PPE selection is vital. But also explaining the other aspects which go into selection can also have a positive impact on identifying why some products just don’t work for your organization.

I have been trying to implement high end gloves and cut resistant PPE for all of the departments I manage within my industry for many years. This has got somewhat easier with working closely with manufactures. Sitting down with the people who design and manufacture the products you need has really helped me in finding PPE specific to our needs within the glass industry. Where no product is 100% perfect, it’s great to trial products and then give our honest opinions to the manufactures from the area that its being trailed in. Employee engagement goes from on-the-job trial usage back to the designer and back to the manufacture. To have this relationship has taken many years of trial and error.

The latest glove we have been testing at Press Glass UK is the Geo-Therm and HydraTherm, both part of the winter hand protection form MCR Safety and Tornado Gloves .

Things you should know...

Cold hands are uncomfortable, they slow you down and make you less efficient but there is a more serious side and it’s useful to know the facts.

Cold weather can affect hands in several different ways some of which are actually quite detrimental to your physical health and well-being. Here’s a little insight into what could happen if your hands get too cold.

Warm hands, healthy skin...

Your skin is the largest organ in your body and it’s the first line of defence against winter weather. The skin on your hands is particularly delicate because it carries all the sensitive nerve endings and blood vessels that give you your dexterity and your amazing range of sensory skills.

If this delicate skin is exposed to the elements, its liable to become damaged. The body loses moisture through the skin all year round but in the winter when there is less humidity, we tend to lose even more. Our bodies are usually well wrapped, but our hands are often exposed, or the correct hand protection is not used. This results in extreme drying of the skin, especially if it’s windy as well as cold.

Dry skin can become chapped, a very uncomfortable and potentially serious problem. Chapped skin is at best sore but at worst, it can lead to deep cracks, bleeding and the risk of infection. At this stage it gets very painful and will slow you down or possibly even stop you working altogether!

A normal glove is not designed to prevent that drying air penetration. Wearing a specialist winter glove protects you by forming a thermal barrier to insulate your hands and prevent damage to your skin caused by dehydration.

Warm hands, better circulation...

When it’s very cold, your body’s natural, sub-conscious response is to protect vital organs like your heart and lungs. It will ensure that warm, oxygenated blood is supplied to your core to keep them working properly.

Under your skin you have a system called ‘micro-circulation’, it’s a network of tiny vessels carrying blood to the ends of your fingers and toes. When the body redirects blood to your core, these vessels go into spasm. Blood flowing to your extremities is reduced and that’s why your hands get cold before any other part of your body.? Keeping your extremities warm helps maintain a healthy overall body temperature, hence aiding better circulation and an even blood-flow around the body.

A specialist winter glove will form a thermal barrier to insulate your hands and help them retain body heat right to the end of your fingertips. A standard glove will not provide that thermal barrier.

When you know you’re wearing the correct winter hand protection, and your hands are warm, you use your full range of dexterity, so you work quickly, efficiently and without that uncomfortable frozen feeling.

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