The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) demands that all workers must have Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when working at construction or renovation sites. At the minimum, each worker should have a branded helmet, safety glasses, a safety vest, and foot protection.
In addition, you must figure out what PPE your company needs to comply with OSHA regulations. You must do a hazard assessment, identify safety and health hazards on the site, and find a PPE provider that can get you quality branded PPE fast.
What PPE Do You Need to Comply with OSHA Standards?
To know what PPE you need to purchase, you must first consider the different classifications of workplace hazards. These include:
- Impact hazards
- Compression (roll-over) hazards
- Heat/cold hazards
- Harmful dust hazards
- Penetration hazards
- Chemical hazards
- Biological hazards
- Light (optical) radiation hazards
Second, consider the nature of the project. You may want everything from basic equipment such as safety glasses and gloves to more workplace specialized PPE, such as respirators, hard helmets, vests, coveralls, or full bodysuits depending on conditions where your workers are working.
Let's explore some basic PPE that can help improve your workplace safety.
Foot Protection
Foot protection is essential for protecting foot bones and tendons during physical work. To avoid falling and injuries from stepping on sharp objects, workers must wear boots with puncture-resistant and slip-resistant bottoms.
Most shoes don't provide support to the rolling movement of an ankle. Foot protection like steel toe caps can protect the workforce from injuries by ill-placed items, while mid-sole protection protects against penetration from sharp objects on the ground.
Electrical Protective Equipment
Working with electricity has some hazards including electric shocks and burns. Electrical protection PPE shields workers against exposure to stray voltage, arc flares, splinters from splicing wires, or fires. The PPE must include rubber insulating blankets, matting, covers, line hose, custom gloves, and rubber insulating sleeves to meet OSHA standards.
Head Protection
OSHA stipulates the need for head protection on construction sites where there is a risk of head injury from falling objects. All construction operations should be risk-assessed to reduce these hazards.
Wearing branded hard hats can protect against falling items, while using toe boards on scaffolding can prevent things from slipping and falling to the ground. Head protection should also be clearly branded to help identify the role each worker plays on the site.
Hearing Protection
Occupational hearing loss may result from a heavy traumatic injury or because of long-term exposure to chronic ear and hearing damaging agents. Construction workers are at a higher risk of hearing loss because of their work settings, which involves working with heavy machinery or with solvents, metals, asphyxiants, and heat.
If the construction site exposes employees to chronic ototraumatic agents, you must provide hearing PPE. These include ear plugs, ear muffs, canal caps, expanding foam plugs, and pre-molded reusable plugs. They can help reduce the noise and lower chances of hearing loss.
Eye and Face Protection
Construction employees get exposed to a variety of hazards, including flying nails, wood splinters, chemical spills, metal pieces, and finer particles aggregates like dust. These can lead to momentary discomforts, like blurred vision, irritation, or burns to long-term visual impairment or even blindness. OSHA requires that you provide eye and face protection, which might include safety glasses, chemical splash goggles, face shields, and welding shields.
Respiratory Protection
Respiratory protective equipment act as the last line of defense against inhalation of hazardous material inhalation. They are used when other control techniques, such as elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment (PPE) are insufficient.
Some examples of respiratory hazards include dust, mist, gas, and fumes from material cutting, handling dusty powders, and employing liquids containing chemicals within a tight breathing space. Respiratory disorders can range from irritating, chronic, and, in some situations, deadly illnesses. Therefore, you must get respiratory protective equipment (RPE) like respirators, masks, visors, or full bodysuits for your workers.
Safety Belts, Lifelines, and lanyards
Working at a great height exposes employees to the danger of falling, which can cause serious physical injury or fatality. OSHA requires fall protection and arrest systems, including safety belts, lifelines, and lanyards, when employees are working at great heights. These must allow maneuverability and be tailored to meet the unique working conditions. You should perform a full risk analysis before selecting these.
Safety Vests
Safety vests are required in all construction sites, especially in high-traffic areas. Research shows that 20% of construction site deaths occur due to lack of wearing safety vests. High-visibility safety vests make workers visible from afar preventing accidents and incidents that could escalate into conflicts.
Custom branded safety vests are also great marketing material, and they serve in differentiating job responsibilities, which is essential for preserving workplace order. In addition, branded safety vests increase team spirit as they can identify with the brand and company.
Key takeaways
Providing safety equipment not only protects the employees but also saves the company from compensation claims and boosts your PR. Therefore, it is a wise decision to get your workers Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to prevent incidents on the sites.
But sometimes, it's difficult to identify the right equipment to meet OSHA requirements, and it is even more challenging to find the right supplier for branded PPE who can deliver quality PPE fast.
Not to worry, Brandit is a leading provider of promotional branded apparel, PPE, signage and corporate gifts. We'll work with you from the execution of your project to delivery to ensure that you meet all OSHA standards and get quality PPE fast and well customized. Get started on your safety journey by downloading Brandit's comprehensive Safety Standard Template today.
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