PPE Protective Equipment

The Importance Of PPE Protective Equipment

As Africa’s most industrialised nation South Africa is active in a number of different industries that require the employees involved in these industries to make use of PPE protective equipment. PPE equipment or personal protection equipment can be used during the day to day activities of personnel involved in the mining industry, materials processing industry, petrochemicals and many other industries where there is a significant risk to the employees caused by working with chemicals or other hazardous materials.

Sometimes the processes involved in the production of certain materials may also from time to time expose the employees to hazardous circumstances where PPE protective equipment might be required. Emergency services personnel and medical practitioners for instance make extensive use of various types of personal protective equipment in a variety of potentially hazardous situations.

There are various components that can make up a full inventory of PPE protective equipment. These individual components can consist of gloves, masks, shields of various types and even padding that can be added to full protective gear that improves the PPE equipments resistance to a variety of different hazards. Even first aid kits can be the first line of PPE protective equipment when they contain items that are designed to offer protection from infection such as disposable surgical masks, latex gloves and even devices that can be employed to safely administer mouth to mouth resuscitation aid.

 Even disposable covers for blood pressure monitoring equipment are now becoming more and more popular as parts of a PPE protection equipment kit for military personnel and hospital staff. These covers have been credited for reducing the incidence of infections caused by the use of blood pressure cuffs by up to half.

Even those personnel who are not exposed to hazardous chemicals or potential infection make use of PPE protection equipment. One of the most popular pieces of PPE protection equipment that is used in the construction and allied industries is the face shield constructed from a variety of composites, including high impact Perspex. The face shield can provide protection from debris that can cause impact damage such as flying slivers of metal that can be the result of using welding or cutting equipment. These face shields can also offer a measure of protection from caustic liquids.

Another variant of the face shield is the PPE protection equipment that takes the form of protective goggles that are used in much the same way as the face shield, but offer added protection due to the fact that they form a tight seal around the eyes and parts of the face.

There are other types of PPE protective equipment that are worn around the head or positioned on the facial area. These are the many types of respiratory equipment or gas masks that are used in many industries or by the emergency services. There are a variety of different uses for respiratory masks, including many for highly specialised tasks such as the cutting of blanks for surfboards. The professionals who shape these blanks often wear respiratory protection in order to prevent the inhalation of the particulate matter that is the result of the shaping process which uses a variety of different power tools.