Posted By Rachael Mclachlan Hiya, I hope that you don't mind me posting on your site but I am looking for some help and guidance! I am an OH Specialist Practitioner and I am presenting a poster at the RCN OH Nurse's Conference in Glasgow in April. I have focussed my poster on PPE compliance (or noncompliance!) in the workplace. However, I am trying to locate some stats on exactly that topic, but with little luck. The poster is aimed at managers with a Total Quality Management theme. Hope you follow what I am trying to achieve as its a bit of a shot in the dark!! Many thanks in advance Rachael

Posted By Chris Packham Rachael The first question is: "Exactly what do you mean by compliance?" Is this merely whether employers actually provide PPE for their workforce? Is it whether they ensure that the PPE is actually used? Is it whether the correct PPE is supplied? Is it whether the workforce comply and/or use it correctly? The bad news is that whatever statistics you find on PPE will be wrong. The extent by which they will be wrong will depend upon which of the questions you are attempting to answer. An example. From my experience a very large percentage of the gloves I see being provided as protection against hazardous chemicals are simply not protecting the wearer, although this is not obvious. The reason is simply that neither the glove distributor nor the employer (or H & S advisor) knows enough about the complex way in which gloves work and fail to correctly identify what is needed. Manufacturers' performance data will often not provide the information needed. In our training sessions we frequently find that even after training over 50% of wearers will contaminate their hands on removing their gloves. In other words, the protection the glove might have provided is negated. How many small employers have provided some form of face mask (e.g. nuisance dust) but have never even heard of fit testing? I suggest that none of these facts will be reflected in official statistics. Sorry - I am not trying to be negative, merely realistic. Chris