According to a recent poll performed by PPE vendor J.J. Keller Safegear, the vast majority of safety managers and coordinators have difficulty ensuring personnel wear their personal protective equipment.
According to the poll, the majority of employees did not wear PPE because they did not want to. Over 70% of those polled stated their staff had expressed such attitude, while half believed PPE was unnecessary or made the task more difficult.
The survey's respondents were mostly from the manufacturing, transportation, and construction industries, and the majority of them were in charge of purchasing PPE as well as training on correct usage and assuring employee compliance.
The poll also revealed three significant areas of existing PPE difficulty: size, heat, and supply chain issues.
One-third of respondents stated it was difficult to get PPE in the correct sizes, with 55% requiring bigger sizes and 41% requiring smaller ones. The most common size issue included head and upper body protection; 53% reported having difficulty fitting both types of PPE.
Meanwhile, 35% of respondents claimed it was difficult to find PPE for female employees. Respondents emphasized the importance of getting the correct fit: employees should be able to put on their gear and have it fit comfortably for the duration of their job.
Managers struggle to guarantee correct PPE usage in hot weather, according to open-ended survey responses. According to a prior J.J. Keller survey, 93% of employees' surroundings reach temperatures where PPE usage might increase the risk of heat illness.
Finally, about half of respondents indicated they occasionally faced supply chain delays that left them without necessary safety equipment, and one in four claimed they did so frequently.
Source: ConstructionDive