PPE and Safety Equipment is a Necessity In All Work Environment

Whether you are working in the office or a field worker, Life is so precious and priceless that it has to be guarded at all times. 
The strained health services often cannot adequately look after accident victims as these accidents be it in a working environment or on the road can put an entire family into grief and economic hardship. With the industrial sector as the life wire of many countries' economy today, industries such as construction companies, waste management, chemical production firms and so on should be provided with safety equipment.
Nobody plans to find themselves in a dangerous or emergency situation, but you can think ahead of time and make plans for preparation if those situations arise at all times. Make sure to think about all situations before engaging yourself in any task.

A brief history of safety equipment began in 1568 by the beekeepers with protective clothing and facemask. In more recent years, personal protective equipment (PPE) is generally believed to have begun with the cloth facemasks promoted by Wu Lien-teh in 1910–11, although many Western medics doubted the efficacy of (PPE) in preventing the spread of disease or injuries around any working environment. In this article we will discuss some of the main equipment that assist in providing safety in the workplace, allowing you to make better plans for hazard prevention 
Safety equipment or commonly referred to as personal protective equipment (PPE) are protective materials or equipment designed to protect the body from exposure of external forces which may cause injuries, damages, or infection which are physically hazards to the body. Safety personnel therefore recommend it to be the last level of defense to prevent occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities, to ensure a safe and healthy environment for their workers. Most people live a life of “NO ACCIDENT IMMUNITY SYNDROME (NAIDS), this form of lifestyle is the fastest killer than HIV AND AIDS. 

Generally safety equipment as the name implies are not just only (PPE), it involves all safety tools and gadgets used by employees or people in various aspects of work and places as depending on the environment to guard themselves from potential danger. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include chemical, electrical shocks, bio-hazard, physical and airborne particulate matter. 

Types of safety equipment

It is mostly important to note that there are various types of safety equipment which come in different shapes and sizes, all safety equipment is designed to help prevent injuries and as well create a safe working environment for everyone. Therefore, they are categorized into 6 sections.

Head protective equipment

There are various types of Head protective equipment designed as a helmet, hardhat, headgear and bump caps are very important to protect you from falling objects and crashing your head on stationary objects on site.

Body protective equipment

When you hear about body protection, it's simply talking about all forms of safety equipment used for body protection against potential accidents when engaging yourself in a task that can cause body injuries such as  falling from a height, radiation, extreme temperature, oil & toxic chemicals spillage, insect bite, sparks. It also involves bulletproof used by the military. Such protective materials include

Hand protective equipment

Every employer needs a helping hand to keep work going. For this reason it is wise to understand that hands, arms and fingers are extremely important for all employees to wear safety gloves and gauntlets against cuts, skin burns, as well as bacteria and chemical contamination.

Foot protective equipment

The safety boot and kneel pad is designed to be used for an environment that could cause serious foot and leg injuries, such as rolling objects, hot substance, pointed sharp objects littered on the ground, slippery surfaces. With the right safety boots movement is assured.

Eye and face protection equipment 

Face protective equipment are simply breathing and sight seen apparatus that protect you from contaminant from work place against eye damage or inhaling dust, high amounts of harmful vapor gases, chemicals splashes, contaminated air, and viruses that may cause viral infection such as COVID 19, and other harmful objects with close contact to the face. Some of the different types of face protective equipment are shown below.

Hearing protective equipment 

Most industrial workers carry out their work in a very noisy atmosphere that could affect their hearing ability, therefore it is advisable to acquire a hearing protection that can help protect you from losing your hearing over time, however there are different types of hearing protection equipment specified for every environment. These include 

Importance of safety equipment

One of the cardinal objectives of safety personnel is the enforcement of safety laws and regulations in a working environment, the merits of enforcement in this regard is hardly quantifiable in the scale chart of moral and mental value to human lives. It goes without saying that where a job is dangerous, appropriate safety equipment should be made available at all times, and while this may not always be the employers responsibility, it is good for the HR or safety personnel to ensure that the appropriate equipment for the job is brought to site and the rules are obeyed by employees. Safety of workers is paramount to all businesses across industries. Using complete (PPE) is essential for any work with potential hazard to protect employees from risk .

Having all safety equipment available on a worksite is a way of reducing casualties on a working site, but providing the employees with training and emphasizing on its importance will be an essential value for them. employees should be aware of why they use the equipment which is why safety rules and regulation guide should be made across every eye catching spot as a constant reminder for their safety.

It is very important to use safety equipment at work, and yes' also at home.

Curated & Edited
Lawrence Momah
 Business. Dev. Consultant
Semec Agencies Nigeria Limited