In the UK there are approximately 144 fatalities in the workplace and around 621,000 non-fatal injuries every year. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) plays a vital role in managing Health & Safety risks. However, historical data shows many workers suffering injury were not wearing this clothing.

This course will show how wearing PPE plays a crucial role in preventing and reducing fatalities, injuries and diseases that would otherwise occur in the workplace. It includes details of a wide range of PPE options, examines the legislation and regulations that govern the responsibilities of employers, employees and suppliers, and provides a real-life case study showing the law in action.

The course will also cover risk assessment and the role it plays in the selection and use of PPE along with discussing other hazard control measures that can be implemented.

Finally, the course will move on to how to use, fit and wear PPE and understand its physical and theoretical limitations. 

Advantages & Target Audience

This course is primarily aimed at people that work in industries such as construction where they are likely to need to use a wide range of PPE on a daily basis. However, there are many other areas of work where PPE is required such as factories, warehouses, window cleaners, healthcare workers, beauticians and many others.

One of the key things this course is intended to do is to teach people why they should use the PPE that is supplied to them, and it is some of these other work areas where this message will be most effective.

Candidates understanding how and why they should use PPE will mean they are more likely to use it consistently and correctly throughout their work. This has the advantage of reducing their risk of injury.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Understand the legislation surrounding the use of PPE, legal obligations and the safety standards that need to be met for PPE to be effective and safe to use.

• Recognise that PPE is the last choice in the hierarchy of control and must only be used when stated as appropriate in risk assessments.

• Evaluate the different types of PPE, state where it provides protection and understand that PPE can be used in combination as 3- or 5-point protection.

• Understand the need for good maintenance of PPE and then where it can’t be maintained it should be replaced.

• Create effective methods to ensure broken or PPE that needs maintaining is not used.