Six (6) Types of Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) explained

In layman term Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) can be defined as equipments and materials that used to protect the individual against unsafe conditions such as injury, hazard.The PPE must be properly used to ensure they bring a proper protection of your body part against unsafe conditions such as dangers, risk, hazards. As the term describes They named as protective means they serve as a block between the person and the danger or hazard. This post is intended to give you a basic concept on types of these equipment.

Before proceeding, let us be aware on some necessaries as I described here down, 

- PPE must be made available: This is to ensure we can take and use them when required since they are ready.

- PPE must be suitable for intended use: Example you have to wear specialist gloves when working with chemicals while general gloves should be used for general work. Also if you are involved in welding activities you have to wear welding goggles, you can use a respirator when you are in a gaseous toxic area while you can use a dust mask when working in a dusty environment.

- PPE must be used properly: Example wearing a safety helmet with their necks tighten rather than not tightening them.

- PPE must be safely maintained: cleaned and repaired: This is to ensure they provide safety and health protection within required standards.

- PPE storage must be known: This is a place where you can  go and take them easily when you want to use them. For example in many industries the storage place is a metal box which is labeled as PPE on its door.

- Any other related information about PPE must be made available. Example manufacturer instructions and manuals that describe the proper use of these equipment, so as to enhance individual awareness.

Apart from that let us look at the types of PPE based on where they used to protect an individual body, such as facial parts like eye, mouth, ear and nose, while hand, foot, head, other body parts such as garment clothes like vest, overall, field clothes.

There are six(6) types of PPE as described here below,

(i) Eye protectors

Eye is a vital part for visual sensation such as seeing. If you don't protect it well, it may result in eye injury, itching, and even partial or complete blindness. When you are in geophysical tasks such as hammering the metal plate during local ground seismic surveying may produce tiny soil particles that may go up and enter into your eyes, or the rubbing effects between metal and hammer may produce spark light that may affect your eyes. So you need to wear eye protection during such geophysical work. 

The follows are types of eye protection equipments that may be used,

- Safety glasses: These provide eye protection against injury. However safety glasses are made up of the light plastic materials to allow an individual to see well. They may vary with colors such as clear, light blue and so on. This allows them to be used depending on site specific and time, for example for operations occurring at night it is recommended to use clear safety glass, while at day sunlight the light blue or other colored may be used to reduce the high light brightness. 

- Safety goggles: These are worn to protect the eyes and other  face parts of an individual. They are tight and leave no space between them and the face. Mostly are made up of hard and transparent plastic cover.

- Welding goggles: These are special types of safety goggles used to protect eyes from ultraviolet sparks produced during welding.

(ii) Foot protectors

When we talk about Feet here it includes toes, ankles. So it is important to protect your feet from direct contact with ground or other ground risk such as electric shock, ground slippery, metals such as nails and other hard substances. Example during geophysical operation in rainy conditions, you have to wear a safety boot to prevent unnecessary slipping on slippery mud, also this protector is good to protect your feet when working on hard terrain.  It includes

- Safety Boots: it is protective footwear that can be used to protect feet from injuries. In a basic sense it should be made from Hard rubber soles, leather uppers, and metal on its toe part.

(iii) Head protectors

As we know that our brain is positioned in head. So getting it safe out of any rude and harmful situation such as falling objects is highly must. They include Safety helmet, Hard-hat which should be worn in the proper way.

(iv) Hand protectors

These provide protection for your hands including fingers and its skin.

Also may protect your hand from direct contact with other materials that may cause injury. Example hammering metal plates in local seismic surveys may cause great friction between your hand and metal hammer, so you have to wear general gloves to reduce this effect.

They may includes,

- General gloves: These are used to ensure your hands are not directly exposed when you take general work that may cut or scratch your hand. Example when you handle some metals such as hammer in your seismic surveying or when preparing metal chains that will hold hydrophones during Marine seismic survey. Also when geophysical operators or personnel plugging metal electrodes into ground during electrical surveys.

- Specialist gloves: As the name suggests these are used for specific purposes such as heat resistant gloves are useful when you are working high temperature environment example in geothermal power plant and chemical resistant gloves are useful to prevent you from chemicals that may irritate your skin.

(v) Respiratory protectors

In most cases these equipment are used to protect our respiratory tract system against direct inhalation of toxic gases and dust or mists particles. They includes

- Dust Mask: These  are primarily intended to protect dust and other fine  particles from direct inhalation through breathing. Example dusts produced during drilling and associated activities in borehole geophysical works.

- Respirators: These are intended to support breathing in highly toxic air environments such as in fuel burning emission of lead fumes. So as geophysical personnel you have to know this so that you can use them when you worked in sites where poisonous gases like H2S are expected to be presents such as in oil and gas productions, pipelines and sewage plants

(vi) Ear protectors

These protect ears from any injury associated with noise. For example during ground seismic surveying using a hammer- metal plate knocking or during drilling in borehole geophysical activities. Also noise can be produced during plugging metal electrodes into the ground during electrical surveys.

They includes, 

Simple earplugs and earmuffs. It depends on noise level such as using earplugs where noise decibel level is greater than 85, (dB>85) while you can use ear defenders in the same case however here you want to protect the whole part of the ear including the pinna.

PPE are very important to be worn as most exploration geophysical works involve field camping so as to ensure you are safe. However geophysical personnel have to use these equipment in a proper way so as to minimize their effects that may be induced on geophysical data quality.

Thank you for your time!

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