Workers Need to Know About Their Employer’s PPE Safety Requirements
Some of the most dangerous industrial work environments in the country are found here in Indiana and Illinois, where every day workers face severe risks for bodily injury or death on the job in construction, manufacturing, maritime, railroad, warehousing and logistics, and commercial trucking.
Sadly, today’s reality is that far too many people are being hurt or killed in preventable work accidents despite a widespread understanding of these dangers and how to protect against these risks.
PPE is Legally Required for Industrial Workers
Both employers and their insurance carriers, as well as safety agencies and those advocating for worker victims and their families, know all too well that safety is not being sufficiently prioritized today. Industrial worksites are notoriously dangerous.
Employers are legally bound to keep workers safe from harm while they are on the premises. This includes providing their workers with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).
As the Occupational Safety and Health Administration explains,
Hazards exist in every workplace in many different forms: sharp edges, falling objects, flying sparks, chemicals, noise and a myriad of other potentially dangerous situations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that employers protect their employees from workplace hazards that can cause injury. Controlling a hazard at its source is the best way to protect employees.…
When engineering, work practice, and administrative controls are not feasible or do not provide sufficient protection, employers must provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to their employees and ensure its use. Personal protective equipment, commonly referred to as “PPE”, is equipment worn to minimize exposure to a variety of hazards. Examples of PPE include such items as gloves, foot and eye protection, protective hearing devices (earplugs, muffs) hard hats, respirators and full body suits.
Personal Protective Equipment: Legal Regulations and Industrial Standards
Companies know all about PPE requirements. They have to know about PPE – it’s the law. Employers must look to legal safety regulations that define the specific legal duties owed to each worker insofar as PPE protection. There are also industrial standards developed that provide guidance within the different industries. While these industrial standards do not automatically have the force of law, they can be used to demonstrate how an employer breached a duty of care and safety after a work accident in claims for legal liability.
Federal Safety Laws for PPE
Federal law mandates that workers are provided a safe working environment by their employers. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 created OSHA, the federal agency that defines and enforces federal workplace safety regulations.
Employers must abide by the Act’s General Duty Clause as well as specific regulations that apply to those employing workers in certain industries, such as construction, agriculture, and maritime. For more, read What is the Employer’s General Duty Clause?
Federal PPE regulations are found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and are overseen at the federal level by OSHA. Employers have legal duties to workers regarding PPE under federal law that include the following:
General Industry PPE
- 29 CFR 1910.132 (General requirements)
- 29 CFR 1910.133 (Eye and face protection)
- 29 CFR 1910.135 (Head protection)
- 29 CFR 1910.136 (Foot protection)
- 29 CFR 1910.137 (Electrical protective equipment)
- 29 CFR 1910.138 (Hand protection)
- 29 CFR 1910.140 (Personal Fall Protection)
Construction PPE
- 29 CFR 1926.95 (Criteria for personal protective equipment)
- 29 CFR 1926.96 (Occupational foot protection)
- 29 CFR 1926.97 (Electrical protective equipment)
- 29 CFR 1926.100 (Head protection)
- 29 CFR 1926.101 (Hearing protection)
- 29 CFR 1926.102 (Eye and face protection)
Maritime PPE
- 29 CFR 1915.152 (General requirements)
- 29 CFR 1915.153 (Eye and face protection)
- 29 CFR 1915.155 (Head protection)
- 29 CFR 1915.156 (Foot protection)
- 29 CFR 1915.157 (Hand and body protection).
State Safety Laws for PPE: Illinois and Indiana
Both Illinois and Indiana are among the 29 states that have adopted “OSHA state plans.” Illinois’ state plan covers only its state and local government workers. Federal OSHA covers all other employers in the state. Indiana’s state plan covers private worksites as well as state and local government workplaces.
State Plans are approved by OSHA. They are all monitored by OSHA. Key here: all state plans must be “…at least as effective as OSHA in protecting workers and in preventing work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths.”
Indiana’s OSHA State Plan is the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA), 402 West Washington Street, Room W195, Indianapolis, IN 46204, (317) 232-2693. IOSHA adopts all OSHA standards and regulations except for its excavation standard.
Illinois’ OSHA State Plan is found at the Illinois Department of Labor, Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Lincoln Tower Plaza, 524 South 2nd Street, Suite 400, Springfield, IL 62701, (217) 782-9386.
Industrial Standards for PPE
Independent of the government are industrial experts (e.g., ISO) that develop their own standards for PPE that are recommended to be followed by industrial employers. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a prominent organization here. For over a century, ANSI has provided employers with industrial safety standards for PPE as well as other forms of workplace safety protocols.
ANSI industrial standards for PPE include the following, many of which have been adopted by OSHA as being legally required:
- Eye and Face Protection: ANSI Z87.1-2010, ANSI Z87.1-2003, ANSI Z87.1-1989(R1998)
- Head Protection: ANSI Z89.1-2009, ANSI Z89.1-2003, ANSI Z89.1-1997
- Foot Protection: ASTMF-2412-2005, ASTMF-2413-2005, ANSI Z41-1999, ANSI Z41-1991
- Electrical Rubber Insulating Equipment: ASTM D120-09, ASTM D-178-01 (2010), ASTM D-1048-12, ASTM D-1049-98 (2010), ASTM D-1050-05 (2011), ASTM D1051-08.
For more, read Personal Protective Equipment Information (PPE-Info) published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Different Levels of Required Protection: Not All PPE is the Same
Workers should expect their employers not only to know, but insist upon the use of PPE, on the industrial worksite. Workers should also be aware that there are different levels of protection within the personal protective equipment that the employer should understand and provide. Not all PPE is the same.
Pursuant to 1910.120 Appendix B, there are different “protection levels” for PPE that employers should understand when they are making sure their workers are safe on their jobsite. They are defined as Protection Levels A, B, C, or D.
This federal regulation demands that PPE (Level A, B, C, or D) is chosen for each industrial worker that will protect that worker “…from the specific hazards which they are likely to encounter during their work on-site.”
The employer is warned in this regulation that “[s]election of the appropriate PPE is a complex process which should take into consideration a variety of factors.” Employers are instructed that that this regulatory listing “does not fully address the performance of the specific PPE material in relation to the specific hazards at the job site, and that PPE selection, evaluation and re-selection is an ongoing process until sufficient information about the hazards and PPE performance is obtained.”
Factors are listed for the employer’s edification that include things like: (1) identification of the hazards, or suspected hazards; (2) their routes of potential hazard to employees (inhalation, skin absorption, ingestion, and eye or skin contact); and (3) the performance of the PPE materials (and seams) in providing a barrier to these hazards.
Employer Duty of Care and PPE Work Accidents in Illinois or Indiana
Employers have a legal duty to understand the specific hazards on the worksite for each worker (both existing and potential risks) and then to analyze the best PPE equipment and materials that will protect that worker from harm.
In our industrial worksites, PPE means different things to different industries and within an industrial workplace, the particular PPE needs may vary greatly. Some workers may need head protection more than others. Some workers face risk of harm that demands things like body protection against falls.
Workers should know that PPE requirements will change and they should be able to rely upon their employers to keep up to date with the latest PPE options. For instance, PPE requirement for work shoes may be important to a great many industrial workers here In Indiana and Illinois and that regulatory requirement is evolving. Read, Serious or Deadly Workplace Accidents: Evolving Legal Standards for PPE Work Shoes.
Another example: this month, OSHA announced it is changing its own agency requirements for OSHA inspector PPE to safety helmets from hard hats, an arguable change for all industrial employers to follow given the superior safety that helmets provide. Read, Safety Helmets or Hard Hats? OSHA Makes a Change.
Sadly, too many employers do not keep up with the latest safety methods and protective equipment. Companies not only do not stay informed on safety issues, but they are failing to provide PPE at all, or shockingly failing to provide PPE that is the proper size or fit when they do decide to have workers with protective equipment on the job. Read, Shocking New Federal Rule for Construction Worker Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
When employers fail in their known duties of safety and care and failures in Personal Protective Equipment contribute to a worker’s bodily injuries or death, then the worker victim and their loved ones have a legal right to investigate legal avenues for justice against the employer and others in possession, custody, or control of the workplace for damages.
For more, read:
- Personal Protective Equipment and Serious Industrial Accidents
- Fatal Industrial Warehouse Accidents in Indiana and Illinois
- Explosives and Fire: Workplace Explosion Accidents
- Chemical Accidents: Burns, Inhalation, or Neurological Work Injuries on the Job in Indiana or Illinois
- Accidents Involving Electric Shock and Exposure to Electricity
- Fatal Falls on the Job and the Employer’s Failure to Protect Worker From Fall Risk
- The High Risk of a Deadly Confined Space Accident on the Job.
Workers in Indiana and Illinois who are severely hurt or killed in a work injury may investigate the incident to determine if Personal Protective Equipment issues were a factor in causing their harm. If so, laws of negligence, product liability, wrongful death, and workers’ compensation may provide avenues for justice to the PPE accident victim and their loved ones. Please be careful out there!
