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Health & Safety
Personal Protective Equipment Program
A. Introduction
Harford Community College is dedicated to providing safe and healthful
facilities for all employees and students and complies with Federal and
State occupational health and safety standards. Administrators, faculty and
staff share the responsibility of ensuring protection of all employees from
injury. The Harford Community College Personal Protective Equipment Program
is designed to identify the process by which workplace hazards are assessed,
designate responsibilities for program implementation, describe training and
record keeping requirements, and describe physical barriers that protect
employees from the risk of workplace hazards.
OSHA requires the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce
employees' exposures to hazards when engineering and administrative controls
are not feasible or effective in reducing these exposures to acceptable
levels. Personal protective equipment will be provided, used, and maintained
when it has been determined that its use is required and that such use will
lessen the likelihood of occupational injury and/or illness.
B. Scope
Harford Community College is required to conduct workplace hazard
assessments to determine what hazards are present that require the use of
PPE. College employees who currently utilize PPE or have the potential to
encounter hazards to the eyes, face, head, feet or hands, will be required
to participate in this PPE Program, which will include being provided with,
utilizing, and maintaining appropriate PPE and receiving training in its
proper use. PPE will be selected and used to protect employees from the
hazards and potential hazards that are likely to be encountered. Respiratory
protection is covered under a Respiratory Protection Program.
C. Applicable Regulation
The applicable regulation is OSHA Regulation 29 CFR Part 1910 Subpart 29,
and I - Personal Protective Equipment CFR 1910.95 Occupational Noise
Exposure.
D. Glossary
1. ANSI: American National Standard Institute is a nonprofit, voluntary
membership organization that coordinates the U.S. Voluntary Consensus
Standard System. Their standards have been adopted throughout government and
industry for various types of personal protective equipment.
2. Hazard Workplace Assessment: Investigating the work environment for
potential dangers that could result in injury or illness.
3. NIOSH: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making
recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH
is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the
Department of Health and Human Services.
4. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Devices worn by the employees to
protect against hazards in the environment. Examples include safety glasses,
face shields, respirators, gloves, hard hats, and steel-toe shoe.
E. Responsibilities
1. Health and Safety Specialist
The Health and Safety Specialist is responsible for the development,
implementation, and administration of the PPE Program. The Health and Safety
Specialist shall:
a. Conduct and certify hazardous workplace assessments to determine the
presence of hazards that require the use of PPE;
b. Conduct periodic workplace reassessments as requested by supervisors
and/or as determined by the H&S Specialist;
c. Maintain records on hazardous workplace assessments;
d. Develop PPE Program training materials;
e. Provide PPE Program training to supervisors;
f. Provide training and assistance to supervisors and other employees on the
proper use, care, and cleaning of approved PPE.
2. Supervisors
Supervisors have the primary responsibility for implementation of the PPE
Program in their work area. Supervisors shall:
a. Provide appropriate protective equipment and make it available to
employees;
b. Ensure that any employee-provided PPE is adequate and that the equipment
is properly maintained and sanitized;
c. Ensure employees are trained on the use, care, and cleaning of PPE;
d. Maintain records on employee PPE training;
e. Supervise staff to ensure that the PPE Program elements are followed and
that the employees properly use and care for PPE;
f. Ensure defective or damaged equipment is immediately replaced.
3. Employees
The PPE user is responsible for following the requirements of the PPE
Program. Employees shall:
a. Wear PPE as required;
b. Attend required training sessions;
c. Demonstrate an understanding of training received;
d. Care for, clean, and maintain PPE as required;
e. Inform the supervisor of the need to repair or replace PPE.
F. Program Components
1. Hazard Assessments
OSHA requires employers to conduct inspections of all workplaces to
determine the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) and to select and
provide the proper PPE for each task performed. When conducting a hazard
assessment, the hazards and the potential hazards associated with a
workplace or a task are identified and assessed. The Health and Safety
Specialist shall use the Hazardous Workplace Assessment Form for this
requirement (see Appendix II). Guidance for completing the assessment can be
found in 29 CFR 1910 Subpart I Appendix B: Non-mandatory Compliance
Guidelines for Hazard Assessment and Personal Protective Equipment
Selection. The assessment will determine if the use of PPE is an appropriate
control measure and allow for selection of personal protective equipment
that will protect the employee from the identified hazard. Adequate
protection against the highest level of each of the hazards will be provided
or recommended for purchase.
The Hazardous Workplace Assessment will be conducted on a single employee
conducting a single task, or on a group of employees if all the employees
perform an identical task (i.e. painting, welding, etc.) Each assessment
will be documented and will include identification of the workplace
surveyed, the person conducting the survey, findings of potential hazards,
and date of survey. During the assessment of each task, the Health and
Safety Specialist will inspect the layout of the workplace and identify the
following hazards:
- High or low temperature that could result in burns, eye injury,
ignition of equipment, heat/cold stress, frostbite, lack of
coordination, or other;
- Chemical exposures, including airborne (inhalation hazards) or
skin/eye contact;
- Harmful dust or particulates;
- Light radiation from welding, lasers, cutting, furnaces, high
intensity lights, or other;
- Sources of falling objects (overhead hazards), and the potential for
dropped or rolling objects that could crush or pinch the feet;
- Sharp objects that may pierce the feet or cut the hands;
- Collision hazards caused by workplace layout and location of
coworkers;
- Electrical hazards;
- Any other identified potential hazards.
2. Selection Guidelines
Once a hazard has been identified and evaluated, the general procedure
for selecting protective equipment is to:
- Become familiar with the type of protective equipment that is available, and
what the equipment can do;
- Select the PPE that ensures a level of protection greater than the minimum
required to protect employees from the hazards;
- Fit the user with proper, comfortable, well fitting protection and instruct
employees on care and use of the PPE;
- Select and provide only those items of protective clothing and equipment
that meet NIOSH or updated ANSI standards.
3. Protective Equipment
All personal protective clothing and equipment will be of safe design and
construction for the work to be performed and shall be maintained in a
sanitary and reliable condition. The personal protective equipment selected
must fit the employee it is intended to protect. Employees will more likely
wear personal protective equipment that fits properly and is comfortable.
Damaged or defective protective equipment shall be immediately taken out of
service to be repaired or replaced.
Eye and Face Protection: 29 CFR 1910.133; ANSI Z87.1-1989
All employees who may be in eye hazard areas are required to wear
protective eyewear to prevent eye injuries. Suitable protectors shall be
used when employees are exposed to hazards from flying particles, molten
metal, acids or caustic liquids, gases, or vapors, bioaerosols, or
potentially injurious light radiation. Side protectors shall be used when
there is a hazard from flying objects. Goggles and face shields shall be
used when there is a hazard from a chemical splash. Face shields shall only
be worn over primary eye protection (safety glasses or goggles). Eye and
face PPE shall be distinctly marked to facilitate identification of the
manufacturer.
OSHA regulations require that each affected employee who wears prescription
lenses while engaged in operations that involve eye hazards will wear
protection that incorporates the prescription in its design, or shall wear
eye protection that can be worn over the prescription lenses (goggles, face
shields) without disturbing the proper position of the prescription lenses
or the protective lenses.
Head Protection: 29 CFR 1910.135; ANSI Z89.1-1986
Head protection will be furnished to, and used by, all employees engaged
in construction and other maintenance work. Head protection is required to
be worn when hazards from falling or fixed objects or electrical shock are
present.
Foot Protection: 29 CFR 1910.136; ANSI Z41.1-1991
Safety shoes or boots with impact protection will be provided to and worn
by employees in work areas that pose foot impact hazards or where employees
carry or handle heavy materials such as packages, parts or heavy tools which
could be dropped. Safety shoes or boots with compression protection are
required for work activities involving skid trucks or other activities where
equipment could potentially roll over an employee's feet. Safety shoes or
boots with puncture protection are required where sharp objects such as
nails, wire, tacks, screws, metal scrap, etc., could be stepped on by
employees causing a foot injury.
Hand Protection: 29 CFR 1910.138
Suitable gloves shall be provided to and worn by employees when hazards
from chemicals, cuts, lacerations, abrasions, punctures, burns, pathogens,
and harmful temperature extremes are present. Glove selection shall be based
on performance characteristics of the gloves, conditions, durations of use,
and hazards present. Disposable gloves are not to be reused. The first
consideration in the selection of gloves for use against chemicals is to
determine, if possible, the exact nature of the substances to be
encountered. Glove types are described in Appendix I.
Electrical Protection: 29 CFR 1910.137
Harford Community College maintenance mechanics do not conduct operations
on live electrical wires and equipment. Maintenance mechanics will use
standard "Lockout-Tagout" protocol found in HCC's Control of Hazardous
Energy Program to ensure that equipment has been de-energized prior to
performing work.
Respiratory Protection: 29 CFR 1910.134
Respiratory protection is covered under a separate Respiratory Protection
Program.
Occupational Noise Exposure: 29 CFR 1910.95; ANSI S3.19-1974
In the event that a Hazardous Workplace Assessment determines a need for
hearing protection it will be provided. All ear protection will be in
compliance with ANSI standards.
4. Employee Training
- Prior to conducting work requiring the use of personal protective
equipment, employees shall be trained to know:
- When PPE is necessary;
- What PPE is necessary;
- How to properly don, doff, adjust and wear PPE;
- What the PPE limitations are;
- Proper care, maintenance, useful life, and disposal of assigned PPE.
Upon completion of the training, employees must be able to demonstrate an
understanding of the training and the ability to use the PPE properly before
they are allowed to perform work requiring the use of the equipment.
Employees are prohibited from performing work without donning appropriate
PPE to protect them from the hazards they will encounter in the course of
that work. The immediate supervisor will work with the Health and Safety
Specialist to develop and provide employee training. The supervisor is
required to document the employee training; see Certification of Employee
PPE Training Form, Appendix III.
Retraining will be required when:
- Inadequacies in an affected employee's knowledge or use of assigned
PPE indicate that the employee has not retained the requisite
understanding or skill;
- Changes in the workplace render previous training obsolete;
- Changes in the type of PPE available render selection and training
in PPE obsolete.
5. Limitations
The following should be kept in mind regarding personal protective
equipment:
Personal Protective Equipment should not be used as a substitute for
engineering controls and consistent safety practices;
One type of PPE will not provide protection against all hazards;
Some PPE may interfere with the performance of other PPE; an example is
protective eyewear, which may interfere with the seal of a respirator or
earmuff.
6. Cleaning, Maintenance and Disposal
It is important that all PPE be kept clean and properly maintained.
Cleaning is particularly important for eye and face protection where dirty
or fogged lenses could impair vision. PPE should be inspected, cleaned, and
maintained at regular intervals so that the PPE provides the appropriate
protection. Personal protective equipment shall not be shared between
employees until it has been properly cleaned and sanitized. PPE will be
distributed for individual use whenever possible. Employees shall notify the
supervisor for replacements as needed.
7. Record Keeping
Hazardous Workplace Assessments and employee training in PPE will be
documented. The Health and Safety Specialist shall maintain the Hazardous
Workplace Assessment Form for each work site evaluated. Written records
shall be kept by the supervisor and Human Resources of the names of persons
trained, the type of training provided, and the dates when training
occurred.
8. Plan Updating
The Harford Community College Personal Protective Equipment Program shall
be evaluated annually for its effectiveness in preventing employee injury
and illness; it shall be updated as needed. Any employee injury,
near-injury, or illness that could be the result of improper use of PPE
shall require an evaluation of PPE program elements.
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