Personal Protective Equipment
(PPE) at Work Regulations 1992
These Regulations set out in legislation sound principles
for selecting, providing, maintaining and
using PPE. They do not replace recently introduced
law dealing with PPE, for example COSHH or
noise at work regulations.
PPE is defined as all equipment designed to be
worn or held to protect against a risk to health or
safety. This includes most types of protective clothing
and equipment such as eye, foot and head protection,
safety harnesses, life jackets and high-visibility clothing.
PPE should be relied upon only as a last resort,
but where risks are not adequately controlled by other
means the employer will have a duty to ensure that
suitable PPE is provided free of charge for employees
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exposed to these risks. The Regulations say what is
meant by suitable PPE, a key point in making sure
that it effectively protects the wearer. PPE will only
be suitable if it is appropriate for the risks and the
working conditions, takes account of workers’ needs,
and fits properly, gives adequate protection, and is
compatible with any other item of PPE worn.
Employers also have duties to:
1 Assess the risks and PPE intended for issue, to
ensure that it is suitable.
2 Maintain, clean and replace PPE.
3 Provide storage for PPE when it is not being used.
4 Ensure that PPE is properly used.
5 Give training, information and instruction to
employees on its use and how to look after it.
PPE is also subject to a separate EC Directive on
design, certification and testing, and will be marked
by the manufacturer with a CE mark.
Manual Handling Operations
Regulations 1992
These will apply to any manual handling operations
which may cause injury at work. These operations
will be identified by the risk assessment carried out
under the Management of Health and Safety at
Work Regulations 1992. They will include not only
lifting of loads, but also lowering, pushing, pulling,
carrying, or moving them, whether by hand or other
bodily force.
Employers will have to take three key steps:
1 Avoid hazardous manual handling operations
wherever reasonably practicable. Consider
whether the load must be moved at all and, if
it must, whether it can be moved mechanically.
2 Assess adequately any hazardous operations
that cannot be avoided. An ergonomic assessment
should look at more than just the weight
of the load. Employers should consider the
shape and size of the load, the way the task is
carried out, the handler’s posture, the working
environment (cramped or hot), the individuals’s
capacity, and the strength required. Unless the
assessment is very simple, a written record will
be needed.
3 Reduce the risk of injury as far as reasonably
practicable. A good assessment will not only
show whether there is a problem but will also
point to where the problem lies.
Workplace (Health, Safety and
Welfare) Regulations 1992
The Regulations will cover many aspects of health,
safety and welfare in the workplace. Some of them
are not explicitly mentioned in the current law,
though they are implied in the general duties of the
Health and Safety at Work Act.
The regulations will set out general requirements
in four broad areas.
Working environment
1 Temperature in indoor workplaces.
2 Ventilation.
3 Lighting including emergency lighting.
4 Room dimensions and space.
5 Suitability of workstations and seating.
Safety
1 Safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles (traffic
routes must be wide enough and marked where
necessary, and there must be enough of them).
2 Windows and skylights (safe opening, closing
and cleaning).
3 Transparent and translucent doors and partitions
(use of safety material and marking).
4 Doors, gates, escalators (safety devices).
5 Floors (construction and maintenance, obstructions
and slipping and tripping hazards).
6 Falling a distance into a dangerous substance.
7 Falling objects.
Facilities
1 Toilets.
2 Washing, eating and changing facilities.
3 Clothing storage.
4 Drinking water.
5 Rest area (and arrangements to protect people
from the discomfort of tobacco smoke).
6 Rest facilities for pregnant women and nursing
mothers.
Housekeeping
1 Maintenance of workplace, equipment and
facilities.
2 Cleanliness.
3 Removal of waste materials.
526Repair of Vehicle Bodies
Employers will have to make sure that any workplace
within their control complies with the Regulations.
Existing workplaces will have until 1996 to comply.
Risk assessment
For every task which is carried out in the workshop
a risk assessment should be carried out. Risk assessment
is about identifying hazards and the severity of
the hazard, deciding on the level of likelihood of the
occurrence and setting control to deal with them.
For instance a can of solvent with a secure top in a
cupboard is relatively safe. The same can of solvent
left without a top and placed on the floor is likely to
get kicked over, or the vapour could cause a fire.
That is, it now has a potential to cause a major
injury and is very likely to happen.
UNISON’s 25 steps to risk assessment
UNISON have produced a step-by-step approach
to risk assessment, the 25 steps are:
1 Set up a programme of risk assessments.
2 Consult safety representatives about the
appointment of competent persons.
3 Appoint competent people.
4 Decide on methods and approach.
5 Identify any other specific health and safety
legislation which applies.
6 Collect information.
7 Consult safety representatives and employees
about work and perceived hazards.
8 Observe what happens in practice.
9 Identify hazards.
10 Identify the harm that could arise from hazards.
11 Identify those at risk.
12 Identify how they may be harmed.
13 Evaluate the likelihood of harm occurring.
14 Evaluate the likely severity of the harm.
15 Evaluate the likely numbers who could be
harmed.
16 Identify the control measures already in place,
including information, instruction and training.
17 Evaluate the effectiveness of the control
measures.
18 Decide what more needs to be done to eliminate
or control risks, in accordance with the
accepted priorities of risk prevention and control
measures.
19 Record the assessments.
20 Provide safety representatives with copies of
the assessments and supporting information.
21 Draw up an action plan and prioritize risks to
be tackled.
22 Draw up a timetable for completion of action
(action plan or development plan).
23 Allocate financial and staff resources for carrying
out the action plan.
24 Implement measures.
25 Monitor the effectiveness of control measures
and review the risk assessments at agreed regular
intervals and whenever changes require it.
Risk grid
One way to assess risks is to give both the severity
of the hazard and the likelihood of occurrence, a
factor between one and five. Multiply the factors to
get a severity of risk. This will give you a matrix
from 1 to 25 (Table 15.2). That is one is low risk;
25 means somebody is likely to be killed.
Possible hazards
Hazards come in different forms. The following
lists are not exhaustive, but give a good framework
to start from.
Table 15.2Risk grid
Hazard security index
Death Major injury Significant injury Minor injury Trivial injury
Very likely 25 20 15 10 5
Likely 20 16 12 8 4
Quite possible 15 12 9 6 3
Possible 10 8 6 4 2
Not likely 5 4 3 2 1
Likelihood of occurrence
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Physical hazards
• Asbestos
• Awkward posture
• Chemicals
• Display screen equipment
• Drugs
• Electricity
• Fire
• Lead
• Machinery
• Manual handling
• Noise
• Paint
• Petrol/diesel
• Radiation
• Slips, trips and falls
• Solvents
• Transport
• Vibration
Biological hazards
• Animal allergens
• Hepatitis
• HIV
• Legionnaires disease
• MSRA
• Plant allergens
• Tuberculosis
• Weil’s disease
Psychosocial hazards
• Boredom
• Bullying
• Isolation
• Lack of control
• Lack of support
• Long hours
• Monotonous work
• Shift work
• Stress
• Violence
• Work overload
Using this information the Risk Assessment Form
(Figure 15.14) can be completed. Such a form
should be completed for each discrete task in the