Posted By sian
Help Im trying to establish what is the correct PPE for each of the areas, ( in a college course environemnt)

Our students have been given a high vis jacket, hard hat, protective eye wear and gloves but for some of the areas this seems a little over the top.

We want the students to be ready to work in the Construction Industry but don’t seem to be able to get a consensus on what each area requires

Brick – hard hat, high vis jacket, gloves and eye protection when cutting bricks?

Painting - high vis jacket, eye wear, gloves ( or is barrier cream enough?)

Carpentry – high vis jacket, eye wear ?

Plastering – High vis jacket, eye wear , gloves (or is barrier cream enough?) and is a hard hat needed

HELP!!

Posted By Chris Packham
Re gloves:

The selection of the correct glove is not as simple as many assume. It is somewhat simpler with physical hazards, but when it comes to chemicals the picture is much more complicated.

In the first place there are four main ways in which gloves can fail to protect against chemical hazards. These are:-

Misuse:- Use of the wrong glove - incorrect handling of the glove leading to skin contamination, particularly when removing the gloves - storing gloves where they will become contaminated - placing soiled hands inside gloves, etc.

Physical damage:- Obviously any glove that is damaged should not be used, but the damage may just be a pinhole and not easily detected unless you know the simple test.

Degradation:- This is where the chemical attacks the actual glove material. There is no EN standard for testing for this so manufacturers use their own tests, some of which are excellent, some less so. This makes comparisons difficult.

Permeation:- Migration of the chemical through the glove at a molecular level. This does not involve any change in the glove and, as the chemical emerges on the inside as a vapour, is undetectable by the wearer. Manufacturers publish permeation breakthrough times. However, these are done to EN374, which is itself flawed. Furthermore, degradation, flexing, stretching, temperature, etc. will all affect the permeation breakthrough time, so manufacturers' published data can only be used as a guide to which is the optimum glove, not as an indication of the actual performance you will achieve.

As far as barrier creams are concerned, these should not be used as protection. The HSE has stated in writing that they should not be used as primary protection. There are studies that show that in some cases skin absorption on a chemical has been greater with the cream than on bare skin. Remember also that these are legally cosmetics. If you use them as protection you are using them as ppe. This raises an interesting question as to how you have ensured that you are achieving adequate control, since you have no validated performance data.

If you need more contact me direct

Chris