Personal protective equipment, commonly known as “PPE,” is equipment used to minimize exposure to a variety of hazards. Examples of PPE include items such as gloves, foot and eye protection, hearing protection devices (earplugs, cuffs), helmets, respirators, and full body suits. Potential hazards to hands and arms include skin absorption of harmful substances, chemical or thermal burns, electrical hazards, bruises, abrasions, cuts, punctures, fractures, or amputations. Protective equipment includes gloves, finger protectors and arm covers.
Gloves are a type of PPE that protects the user's hands and wrists from any number of potentially harmful substances and materials. The gloves can come in a variety of materials and adapt to a variety of uses. In medical environments, gloves are usually made of vinyl or latex, which have water resistant properties that protect the user from bodily fluids such as blood, mucus, urine, etc. This protection is vital when healthcare professionals draw blood or give injections.
Other configurations that require more durable gloves can be made of materials such as rubber, cotton, cowhide, etc. These materials can protect the user's hands from heat, cold, lacerations, etc. PPE is commonly used in healthcare settings, such as hospitals, doctor's offices, and clinical laboratories. When used correctly, PPE acts as a barrier between infectious materials, such as viral and bacterial contaminants, and the skin, mouth, nose, or eyes (mucous membranes).
The barrier has the potential to block the transmission of contaminants from blood, body fluids, or respiratory secretions. PPE can also protect patients who are at high risk of contracting infections through a surgical procedure or who have a medical condition, such as an immunodeficiency, from exposure to potentially infectious substances or material brought by visitors and healthcare workers. When used correctly and with other infection control practices, such as washing hands, using alcohol-based hand sanitizers, and covering when coughing and sneezing, it minimizes the spread of infection from one person to another. Effective use of PPE includes properly removing and disposing of contaminated PPE to avoid exposing both the user and others to infection.
Information on specific components of PPE. Including gloves, gowns, shoe covers, head covers, masks, respirators, eye protection, face shields and goggles. PPE includes gloves, gowns, lab coats, face shields or masks, eye protection, resuscitation masks, and other protective equipment, such as hats and ankle boots. It can also include full protective suits, such as those used for Ebola patients.
Must be easily accessible to employees and be available in the right sizes. The hospital infection control process often determines isolation requirements for patents, including contact, droplets, and air, and will require nurses and visitors to follow the protocol for each type of isolation. Employees should wear eye and mouth protection, such as goggles and masks, glasses with solid side shields, and masks or face shields when splashes, sprays, splashes, or drops of blood or OPIM pose a hazard to the eyes, nose, or mouth. Safety glasses help protect against objects entering the eyes, but liquid splashes can pass through the openings between the glasses and the face.
Respiratory protective equipment is only used as a last line of defense and, as a result, requires individual evaluation and training by EH&S personnel. Headcovers are another type of PPE that protects a person's head and hair from transmitting infections from the head when they tuck their hair in. For example, gloves would be sufficient for a laboratory technician who is drawing blood, while a pathologist performing an autopsy would need much more protective clothing. EHS assists departments in the selection of hearing protection to ensure that these variables are addressed correctly.
Personal protective equipment may be required during the care of any patient, so it should be routinely available in patient care areas, not just isolation carts. All personal protective equipment (PPE) intended for use as a medical device must comply with FDA regulations and must comply with applicable voluntary consensus protection standards. Shoe covers serve a similar purpose to gowns, in that they protect the person's skin from contact with infectious agents and his clothing. When an employee's noise exposure cannot be reduced to safe levels, hearing protection should be worn.
Glasses are usually much looser and are held on the face by what are known as temples or the thin arms that sit in a person's ears. The various types of personal protective equipment can often make the difference between illness and health, or even between life and death for many medical professionals, first responders, and the countless people they serve on a daily basis. In other words, if the use of PPE would increase the danger to the person receiving care or the worker, then the worker may refuse to use PPE, but situations like this need to be reported and investigated, and they are rare. Due to the liquid-retaining nature of human hair, head covers help protect a person's hair from coming into contact with body fluids and other harmful substances.
When engineering, labor practices, and administrative controls are not feasible or do not provide sufficient protection, employers must provide personal protective equipment to their workers and ensure its proper use. . .
