DoES MY BUM looK SAFE IN ThIS?

In-depth
In-depth
Does my
bum look
safe in this?
It’s probably one of the few parts of the body that doesn’t have Personal Protection
Equipment (PPE) designed specifically for it. Otherwise, from head to toe, employees
need by law to be protected when their job demands it. And it’s their employer’s
responsibility to provide the PPE, and to record what’s been issued to whom, and when.
So how can you be sure the right equipment is readily available, and that employees
Julia Mullar
Operations Development
Manager
ERIKS UK
Integrated Solutions
have kitted themselves out?
The Health & Safety at Work Act, Personal
Protective Equipment Regulations and the
Personal Protective Equipment at Work
Regulation make the employer’s duties
concerning PPE absolutely clear. But even
when you follow the letter of the legislation,
it’s hard to ensure an employee gets hold of
the right PPE and, having acquired it, wears
it. However, what you can do – to protect
your employee and yourself – is take every
possible step to make it easy for them, and
record evidence that you have.
Now there are PPE vending machines which
do just that. And because they make it easier
for employees to access the correct clothing
or equipment, they also make it more likely
they will wear it.
Tea? Coffee? Totectors?
If you thought vending machines were only
for drinks, chocolate and crisps, think again.
There are now highly sophisticated vending
solutions available for the whole range of
PPE – from helmets to safety boots – which
not only help increase take-up of PPE by
employees, but also reduce the cost to the
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employer of providing the equipment.
That may sound like a contradiction, but
it isn’t. It’s simply a result of easier access
combined with closer control and accurate,
automated record-keeping.
Unlike the traditional PPE stores with a
counter and a storeperson, PPE vending
machines can be located exactly where they
are needed: at point of use. Or they can be
positioned where employees will pass them
just when they need them: as they leave the
canteen or the lavatory at the end of a break
or the start of a shift. So there’s no reason –
and no excuse – for employees not to pick up
the PPE they need, when they need it.
In the right gear
Of course, just because someone has the
right gear you can’t be sure they will wear it.
But with a vending machine solution you can
be sure they have it – and that it is definitely
the right equipment.
The machines available offer a variety of
options for enabling and controlling access.
These include the employees’ existing
ISSUE 19 www.eriks.co.uk/knowhow
clocking-in cards, or dedicated swipe cards
or key fobs. More advanced machines can be
accessed with a thumbprint, or even with a
retinal scan. However, whatever the method,
the result is the same: you will have a record
of who has accessed the machine, and when.
With the means of access bringing up
relevant preloaded data, a touchscreen
then enables the employee to search by
keyword (a choice of languages is available)
or graphic icons, to find the equipment they
need, from the relevant, risk-assessed range
of equipment offered by the machine. For
example – if the employee is identified as
working on a job requiring Kevlar gloves,
it will not allow access to soft cotton
gloves. In addition, if the gloves have been
restricted to, for example, one pair issued
per day per employee, another pair will
not be issued without a higher level of
authorisation – such as from a supervisor.
This means a replacement for a genuine
reason – such as wear and tear – can be
authorised, but employees will not be able
to have a new pair simply because they left
their old ones in the canteen.
By maintaining this closer control over access,
PPE costs have been proven to be reduced,
without endangering employees’ health and
safety in any way.
Visitors welcome
Visitors to a site often need just as much
protection as employees. So PPE vending
machines can be set-up to dispense a
complete visitor ‘safety kit’ containing all the
items required.
If the kit contains – for example – safety
shoes, hard hat, goggles, ear defenders and
overalls, these can all be contained in one
drawer of the machine, packaged together
based on shoe size. The visitor then only
has to specify shoe size to receive a
suitable outfit.
Just for the record
These automated equipment vending
solutions not only give – they also
take away. And what they take away
is a complete record of who took what
equipment, and when.
As already explained, this helps to reduce
PPE wastage. And it provides a complete
audit trail, which has traditionally relied on
paperwork and the diligence, reliability
and accuracy of the storeperson or the
employees themselves to complete it.
By restricting access to only the right
equipment for the job, and recording who
has accessed it, the vending solution makes
it impossible for an employee to claim he or
she had wrong or no PPE, in the event of
a health and safety incident. In which case,
the only conclusion will be that they had the
equipment but chose not to wear it, which
relieves the employer of any liability in the
event of an industrial injury claim.
Of course, this should not hide the
fact that PPE is always the last resort.
Before it is utilised it is the employer’s
duty to do everything so far as is
reasonably practicable to eliminate
the hazard entirely – from a machinery
redesign to a process reorganisation or
change of materials – should first have
been considered and taken.
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