Duraclean Journal of Marketing, Management and Technical Topics

Employers Must Pay for PPE...Sometimes








The following article is a condensation of the "Safety News Alert" newsletter regarding the OSHA rule that took effect on February 13, 2008 that requires employers to pay for personal protective equipment (PPE) for their employees.


Major Provisions to the Rule

When you have regulations covering such a broad and complex area, the "employer pays" PPE is rife with exceptions and clarifications. OSHA adopted the rule to clarify that under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act employers are responsible for provide (at no cost to their employees) the PPE as required by OSHA standards to protect the employees from workplace injury and death. The rule which employers were required to implement no later than May 15, 2008 does not require them to provide PPE where non had been required before. The final rule may be found at: http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_id=20094&p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER



The PPE payment provisions apply to most private sector workplaces. There are 21 states that are approved by OSHA to administer their own safety and health rules for private sector workplaces and additional 3 states administer OSHA-approved regulatory programs for public sector workplaces only.


What PPE is Covered?

Employers must pay for PPE whenever an OSHA rule explicitly requires that employers must provide and pay for PPE, for example, respiratory and noise protection. Employers must pay for the following types of PPE when used by employees exclusively for in the workplace. You can find even more at http://www.safety.blr.com/:

• Electrical protection: electrically insulated tools, rubber insulating gloves
• Chemical protection: chemical resistant gloves/aprons/clothing, encapsulating chemical protective suits
• Foot protection: metatarsal foot protection, rubber boots with steel toes, shoe covers-toe caps and metatarsal guards
• Eye and face protection: nonprescription eye protection, prescription eyewear inserts/lenses for full-face respirators, goggles, face shields, laser safety goggles
• Head protection: bump caps, hard hats
• Hearing protection
• Hand/arm body protection: non specialty gloves (payment is required for PPE to protect from dermatitis, severe cuts/abrasions; payment is not required if they are only for keeping clean or for cold weather with no site-specific hazard consideration)
• Respiratory protection
• Skin protection: barrier creams (unless used solely for weather-related protection)
• Fall protection: ladder safety device belts, window cleaner's safety straps

Exempt PPE

Employers are not required to pay for the following that are not worn exclusively by the employees for protection from hazards:

• Nonspecialty safety-toe protective footwear (provided that the employer permits such items to be worn off of the jobsite): steel-toe shoes, steel-toe boots
• Nonspecialty prescription safety eyewear (provided that the employer permits such items to be worn off of the jobsite)
• Everyday clothing: long-sleeved shirts, long pants, street shoes, normal work boots
• Ordinary clothing and skin creams used solely for protection from the weather: winter coats, jackets, gloves, parkas, rubber boots, hats, raincoats, ordinary sunglasses, sunscreen
• Back belts
• Dust masks and respirators worn under the voluntary-use provisions of the PPE standard
• Uniforms that are not PPE
• Items worn to keep clean for purposes not related to safety or health
• PPE already owned and used voluntarily by the employee

PPE Selection

The new rule does not require employers to provide a selection of PPE from which the employees may choose their equipment other than the existing requirements in the respirator and noise standards.

Labels: PPE, Safety Compliance, Technical