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Four years ago on Christmas day, an employee working for a
company that recycles lead from used batteries paid dearly for failing to wear
personal protective equipment.
He had just finished moving a container pot filled with
molten metal from a furnace to a cooling area when the pot suddenly exploded
just as he was reversing his forklift truck. The molten metal, also known as
slag, splashed the worker. When the worker jumped out of the forklift truck to
go to an emergency shower wash station, more misfortune struck. He slipped on
the slag, and ended up receiving third degree burns to both legs, second degree
burns to the back of his neck, and third degree burns on his left palm.
The matter did not end there. Tonolli Canada Ltd. was fined
$80,000, plus a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge credited to a special
provincial government fund to assist victims, by the Ontario Court of Justice
for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) after it plead
guilty for failing to ensure that the worker wore protective boots, leggings
and other protective clothing.
 The courts have recognized the importance of personal
protective equipment (PPE), and are increasingly unforgiving with employers who
fail to ensure employees wear PPE, says John Lazenby, a health and safety
consultant who provides PPE training. Over the past six months, no less than
four companies in Ontario were fined up to $170,000 for violations regarding PPE
enforcement.
“Enforcement is the issue surrounding personal protective
equipment,” noted Lazenby, the coordinator of an Ontario Workplace Safety &
Insurance Board (WSIB) Safety Group sponsored by the Canadian Foundry
Association. “Supervisors typically don’t like to discipline workers. They
don’t want to upset them because they work with them. Supervisors tell me ‘But
I’ve told him, told him and told him.’ But it has to be enforced, or people are
going to get injured.”
Build a PPE program
Progressive disciplinary measures, ranging from a verbal
warning to a written one to suspension and possibly even dismissal, should be
one of the anchors behind the implementation of a PPE program, says Lazenby.
“Most companies have one — not all enforce it,” he says.
To encourage compliance, a PPE program must be
comprehensive, and requires the active participation of senior management,
supervisors — and workers, if only because they are the ones who are familiar
with workplace hazards.
The first step in the development of a PPE program is to
conduct a workplace hazard assessment to identify the hazards in the worksite.
An on-site inspection of the workplace should be performed, followed by a
comprehensive breakdown of work practices, job procedures, equipment, and workplace
layout.
You should review your manufacturing or other processes and
compile an inventory of chemical and physical agents. Also, you need to examine
your existing control measures for hazards because PPEs should “rarely be your
last line of defense,” says Clyde Whalen, a founder and instructor of the
Alberta British Columbia Safety Inc., a firm that specializes in training
workers in the Alberta oil sands.
“I hope I never put myself in a situation where I only have
to use my PPE to protect myself,” says Whalen. “Companies have to follow what
is called a hierarchy of control. Whenever they identify a hazard that puts
someone at risk, the first thing they have to try and do is eliminate the
hazard. Failing that, you have to try to control the hazard through engineering
controls, if not, administrative controls. Finally, it is the PPE.”
Pick the right gear for the job
After you conduct your workplace hazard assessment and
establish the need for PPE, the next step is to determine the PPE that best
matches the hazard. With some jobs, it’s relatively easy to select proper PPE,
as workers face the same hazard throughout the shift. With others, such as
foundry workers who are exposed to a variety of hazards including molten metal
and silica dust, selecting proper PPE becomes more complex. Foundry workers,
for instance, are typically required to wear tinted eyewear, flame-resistant
clothing, special boots with quick release fastening, and some need
respirators. Resorting to a consultant to help with the selection of PPE is not
necessary, but shopping around and discussing your basic needs with trained
sales representatives is, says Lazenby.
When you make your selections, it is vital to spend time to
ensure that the equipment fits each worker properly. Fit testing conducted by
qualified personnel is key to ensuring safety and compliance, says Lazenby.
“If, for instance, a respirator doesn’t fit a worker’s face properly and a gap
exists around the edge of the respirator, the hazardous gases will seep in, and
it will provide little protection,” says Lazenby. You’ll need to conduct
thorough fit tests on all the rest of your gear including safety glasses,
hearing protection and other kinds of PPE.
Training is key
Training workers is also essential. Preferably conducted in
small groups to provide individual, hands-on attention, training should cover
how to wear PPE, how to adjust it for maximum protection and how to properly
maintain it.
After you’ve had your PPE program in place for several
months, you should perform an audit to gauge the effectiveness of the program,
recommends Lazenby. An audit should include a visual inspection to determine
whether workers are wearing their PPE as required, and a workplace survey to
measure workers’ views over whether the PPE program is working effectively.
“The main thing about audits is to make sure that workers
are wearing what they are supposed to wear when they are supposed to wear it.
If they are not, supervisors should be looking after the matter, and following
it up,” says Lazenby.
Enforcement is not an issue in the Alberta oil sands, says
Whalen. That’s because some employers have a zero-tolerance policy.
“Workers have no option,” says Whalen. “If the PPE is
required, you have to wear it, and if you don’t, you’re fired. It’s that
simple. And that’s a good thing. Otherwise you are going to face situations
where you are trying to get people to wear their PPE. If it’s flat across the
board and there are no exceptions, people wear it.”
Luis Millan is an award-winning journalist and frequent
contributor to COS magazine. You can reach him at:
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