Guidelines For Taking Proper Care Of Personal Protective Equipment

by Crisanto Andrada Consultant

Every useful object of our daily life needs proper care and maintenance in order to extend its longevity. Personal Protective Equipment is not exceptional too. Rather, safety equipment needs proper and regular maintenance as it acts as the fundamental protection to each and every worker at an industrial workplace. A famous industrial PPE kit supplier in the Philippines, Omaga Safety Supply, in this article, would provide a list of guidelines of how to take proper care of safety equipment.

• Hard hat or safety helmet maintenance checklist:

i. Hard hats should be stored at a safe place where there is no extreme temperature or heat.

ii. Every worker should clean the head protection with warm water and cleanser before using it each time.

iii. Damaged hard hats should be replaced without a second thought for ensuring safety.

• Safety shoe maintenance checklist:

i. After every use, the safety shoes should be cleaned with a cotton towel to enhance their durability.

ii. A regular inspection is needed to check the growth of fungus inside the shoes.

iii. Try to change the socks at a regular interval to keep the shoes sweat-free and dry.

iv. Ragged and damaged shoes should be abandoned.

• Safety hand gloves maintenance checklist:

i. Filthy hand gloves do not run for a longer period of time. Hence, an everyday wash is much necessary to make the gloves polished and spotless.

ii. After washing the gloves with water and soap, these should not be kept wet. For proper maintenance, the gloves should be completely dry.

iii. Make sure that the gloves do not have holes, cracks, and damages after using them the whole day. If any damage occurs these should be thrown away.

• Eye-protecting goggles maintenance checklist:

As eyes are the most sensitive part of our body, every worker needs to be extra careful about taking care of eye protection.

i. Eye protections need a regular wash with water and mild cleanser to be clean and dust-free.

ii. The eye-protecting goggles are scratch-prone. Hence, they should be stored in a dust-proof case or locker so that they do not come in contact with dust and small particles. At the same time, the lenses should be washed with clean water before wiping in order to prevent scratches.

iii. Keeping eye protection in a safe place ensures hygiene for the eyes. Try not to keep the eye-protecting goggles here and there, rather store them with proper care to avoid eye infections.

iv. Broken or scratched eye protections should be replaced for safety purposes.

• Body harness maintenance checklist: Safety body harnesses also need to take part in the regular equipment maintenance program.

i. Keeping the body harness hung with a hanger, will prevent it from getting bent and torn.

ii. The safety body harnesses should not be kept to the direct exposure of sunlight. The UV ray degrades the quality of the harness due to extreme heat and temperature and the harness loses its durability.

iii. For cleaning purposes, use only mild soap or detergent. Anything that contains chlorine should not be used to wash the safety body harness.

iv. Before putting on the body harness, it should be completely dry.

These above-mentioned tips are not at all cumbersome for taking proper care of the Personal Protective Equipment. Remember one thing, the more a worker would pay heed to the maintenance, the more the equipment would run long.