Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
This domain tests PPE as the last line of defense: hazard assessment, selection, fit, training, care, and limits. PPE does not remove the hazard and can fail silently.
Core rules
- OSHA 1910.132 requires a written hazard assessment, selection, training, and verification of PPE use. Eye, face, head, foot, and hand protection have specific sections (1910.133–1910.138).
- Respiratory protection under 1910.134 requires medical evaluation, fit testing, training, maintenance, and a written program. Tight-fitting respirators require annual fit testing; users must be clean-shaven at the sealing surface.
- Select chemical protective clothing by permeation and degradation data, not color or price. Glove choice is chemical-specific; no single glove resists everything.
- Hearing protector ratings (NRR) are laboratory values. Derate them for real-world use; a higher NRR is not automatically adequate.
- PPE must be inspected, replaced, stored, and compatible with other PPE.
Worked example
A task exposes a worker to 100 dBA. Earplugs have an NRR of 25. If you derate by 50% as a conservative practice for earplugs, protection is about 12.5 dB, so the protected level is about 87.5 dBA, still above 85 dBA. Choose a higher-attenuation combination or, better, reduce noise at the source. Verify with fit checks and audiometric testing.
Traps
- Choosing a respirator before evaluating engineering controls.
- Assuming an NRR applies directly without derating.
- Using the same glove for all solvents.
- Skipping fit testing because the worker passed last year, without documentation.