Personal Protective Equipment

Approved personal protective equipment must be worn in areas where hazards or potential hazard to employees exist as identified by the department and/or division in conjunction with ESH&Q. Types of hazards vary, and the personnel protective equipment is issued for specific types of hazards. Most Personal Protective Equipment must meet national standards (ANSI) and/or NIOSH certification where applicable in order to be used at BNL.

OSHA requires the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce an employees' exposure to hazards when engineering or administrative controls are not feasible or effective in reducing these exposures to acceptable levels. Employers are required to identify any hazards in the workplace and potential exposures to them.

If PPE is to be used to reduce the exposure of employees to hazards, a PPE program should be initialized and maintained. This program should contain identification and evaluation of hazards in the workplace and if the use of PPE is an appropriate control measure. The program must include how PPE is selected, maintained, evaluated and how the employees are trained in its use. A Computer Based Training Module (CBT) currently exists on the training web site.