Personal protective equipment at work (Third edition)

This guidance is primarily for employers and relevant self-employed persons but may also be useful for employees and those selecting PPE.

The key messages are:

it is essential that employers put in place all necessary safe systems of work, control measures and engineering solutions so that use of PPE is minimised
where PPE is needed it must be the most appropriate for the identified risk and should only be issued where it further reduces the level of risk
PPE is a safeguard of last resort since it only protects the individual wearer

Changes to the guidance since the last edition:

it has been updated to clarify the requirement after the repeal of the Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989
it details changes to the provisions for head protection for turban wearing Sikhs following an amendment to the Employment Act 1989
it details changes required due to an amendment to Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 relating to self-employed persons

Update

In 2016, there was a minor change to the guidance in paragraph 101, providing updated examples of where the visibility of workers may be important.