PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is a crucial consideration in many different industries. Doctors (who are frequently at risk of infection) and builders (who face any number of hazards over the course of a working day) are obvious examples, but PPE isn't just something for the medical and construction industries to worry about - protective equipment is used practically everywhere, from fire and police stations to warehouses and post offices.
Sadly, the requirement for PPE is one that's all too often forgotten by employers and their staff. It's easy to dismiss protective equipment as yet more 'red tape' that gets in the way of one's job, but the truth of the matter is that PPE saves lives - without it, your employees are at risk, and you and your business are liable for any damages.
Here are some sobering case studies from a variety of different industries:
Nurse sues hospital company after contracting Ebola
If Nina Pham's name sounds familiar to you, it's probably because her story was one of the biggest of last year's Ebola outbreak. Ms Pham was the first person to contract the disease on American soil, and though she fortunately recovered the illness, she has since filed a lawsuit against her employer, Texas Health Resources, on the grounds that they didn't to enough to protect her from infection. The lawsuit states that the company did not adequately train employees to avoid exposure; furthermore, they did not provide the correct protective equipment, which meant that Nina Pham's neck and hair were exposed whilst treating an infected patient.
Worker paralysed after three-metre fall
A 34-year-old man named Colin Shields was left paralysed from the neck down after suffering a fall at work. Mr Shields fell 3 metres from the top of a gritter; the Health & Safety Executive fined his employer, Inex Works Ltd, £13,500 for breaching the Work at Height Regulations 2005. A press release on the HSE website suggested that Mr Shields ought to have been "wearing a harness or restriant to protect him from falling".
Narrow escape for man hit by falling guttering
Valentin Taljanov (aged 61 at the time of the incident in question) was seriously injured after a piece of cast iron guttering fell onto him at Aberdeen Harbour, where he was working at the time. Mr Taljanov suffered a broken arm, a punctured lung, and multiple other injuries, although the damage could potentially have been even worse; an HSE press release stated that "it was probably only Mr Taljanov's hard hat that prevented him from being killed".
Hopefully, these three stories have more than convinced you of the importance of PPE. If you are an employer, be sure to train your workers properly, and put up the proper PPE signs to remind them of their responsibilities at all times!
