Employer requested Employees to replenish PPE stock on business cards.

Employee purchased wrong glove, had an accident, resulting in RIDDOR and Surgery to Tendons in hand.

Who is reponsible?

Employer did not train in PPE selection.

Selection of the correct personal protective equipment must be done by someone with the appropriate level of knowledge and training to ensure that what is selected is fit for the purpose for which it is being provided by the employer and that it is used in a manner that ensures that it provides adequate protection. 

As an example, with gloves provided for protection against chemicals my experience is that very few really understand the complexities associated with the level of protection that a glove can provide. It is common to find gloves being worn that are not providing the protection that the employer believes is being obtained, simple because whoever decided which glove and how it would be used was unaware of the complexity associated with determining this. The same glove can perform differently as protection against the same chemical depending upon circumstances under which it is being used.

How would you expect the employee to know which item of PPE to purchase and how it will perform?

Whatever the regulations say, if you wish to protect your workforce properly selection, provision and use of PPE must be controlled by someone who understands what they are doing. Appropriate workforce training is a regulatory requirement as is suitable supervision, and, where chemical are concerned, health surveillance (see COSHH ACoP 6th edition).

The employer is meant to undertake the risk assessment that would determine if PPE is a control measure for the work and if so what type of equipment would be required. Where they do not have sufficient personal knowledge and or experience they are meant to engage the services of a competent person e.g. hiring an H&S professional or using a consultant.

Determination of, selection, purchasing etc. are all matters that the employer should put in place suitable control arrangements. Employers duties are scattered throughout the Health and Safety at Work Act and all the supporting and enacting regulations including PPE, COSHH, PUWER, LOLER, DSE.......

Originally Posted by: Roundtuit

The employer is meant to undertake the risk assessment that would determine if PPE is a control measure for the work and if so what type of equipment would be required. Where they do not have sufficient personal knowledge and or experience they are meant to engage the services of a competent person e.g. hiring an H&S professional or using a consultant.

Determination of, selection, purchasing etc. are all matters that the employer should put in place suitable control arrangements. Employers duties are scattered throughout the Health and Safety at Work Act and all the supporting and enacting regulations including PPE, COSHH, PUWER, LOLER, DSE.......

The Risk Assessment was filled out by the employee in this case, he was not trained in. The employee thought the gloves he was wearing would be sufficent until the accident.

Brilliant, thank you for the information.

the right type of glove needs to come from employer in risk assessment (or outsourced to a competent person), employee should have received training about their job, the risks and how the PPE works.

If the wrong glove was selected and used in the RAMS then thats the employers fault, if the employee chose not to use that glove and used a different type then they are to blame BUT there could still be a case against the employer as they were not supervised correctly or training was insufficient.

If the employee knew the risks they should have had the knowledge to decide if the glove was suitable, and to carry on working, or not and stopped and questioned the glove.

The Employer is one of those to delegate everything to Employee - e.g quotes, risk assessments etc.

Thanks for your assistance.

The employer is basically responsible for everything. He can delegate some of the individual tasks to employees but ultimately he carries the can. If he does delegate he must be certain that the person he delegates to, is capable and competent to do the task.  Getting employees to do their own risk assessment  is not unusual, nor is getting  the employee to pay for PPE  with the company credit card but they need to demonstrate that  a) the employee was competent to do the risk assessment  ( I notice that the replies keep saying “fill in the risk assessment ” implying that it is more of tick box exercise rather than a proper risk assessment ) b) the person has the capability eg  financial  authority to carry out the actions required by the risk assessment  and SSOW  established by the risk assessment  and c)  people have had  sufficient information, supervision and training d) somebody monitors this process to make sure it is working correctly, which is where H&S come into it.

Few questions regarding this,

Had PPE been previously been issued, and the requirement to replenish was just getting the same?

To replenish stock would indicate previous use.  

Was the injured person competent in the work they were undertaking? Had they previous experience of the work being undertaken?

HSE recommends consulting workforce with regards to risk assessments, had they been consulted previously?

If an employer has handed over card then it suggests employee is known and valued/trusted.

As others have stated ultimate responsabilty with employer, but would consider contributory neglagence for a competent employee.