PPE means any device or appliance designed to be worn or held by an individual and intended to provide personal protection to that individual, against one or more health and safety hazards.

Definitions of PPE also include:

• a unit made up from several devices or appliances which have been integrally combined by the manufacturer for the protection of an individual against one or more than one probable hazard occurring at the same time;
• a protective device or appliance joined permanently or temporally with other personal equipment worn or held by an individual for a specific activity;
• interchangeable components which are essential to its satisfactory functioning
  and used exclusively for such equipment

PPE is not a substitute for safe working conditions or sound working practices and in its use PPE does not eliminate the hazard. However, it is an aid in controlling your exposure and it helps to prevent injury or adverse health effects. The main categories of general PPE include

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Hearing:	Eye and Face:	Respiratory:
Gloves:	Clothing:	Footwear:

Standards and Classification
All of the equipment classified as PPE must be CE marked, which means that it has to be independently tested to conform to the requirements of the European PPE directive and the resulting regulations “Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992”. The specific standards to which each piece of equipment must conform are classified by an EN number.

An index of the current Harmonised European Standards for Personal Protective Equipment can be found on:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newapproach/standardization/harmstds/reflist/ppe.html


Author – Richard Hill