Labor & Industries (L&I), Washington State

Core Rules

 

 

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) WAC 296-800-160

For printing

Your Responsibility:

To make sure that your employees have, use, and care for the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE)

PPE is an item or items used to protect the eyes, face, head, body, arms, hands, legs, and feet such as goggles, helmets, head covers, gloves, rubber slickers, disposable coveralls, safety shoes, protective shields, and barriers.

You must:

Do a hazard assessment for PPE	WAC 296-800-16005
Document your hazard assessment for PPE	WAC 296-800-16010
Select appropriate PPE for your employees	WAC 296-800-16015
Provide PPE to your employees	WAC 296-800-16020
Train your employees to use PPE	WAC 296-800-16025
Retrain employees to use PPE, if necessary	WAC 296-800-16030
Document PPE training	WAC 296-800-16035
Require your employees to use necessary PPE on the job	WAC 296-800-16040
Keep PPE in safe and good condition	WAC 296-800-16045
Make sure your employees use appropriate eye and face protection	WAC 296-800-16050
Make sure your employees use appropriate head protection	WAC 296-800-16055
Make sure your employees use appropriate foot protection	WAC 296-800-16060
Make sure your employees use appropriate hand protection	WAC 296-800-16065
Make sure your employees are protected from drowning	WAC 296-800-16070

 

 

WAC 296-800-16005

Do a hazard assessment for PPE

You must:

• Look for and identify hazards or potential hazards in your workplace and determine if PPE is necessary on the job.

Note: PPE alone should not be relied on to provide protection for your employees. PPE should be used after all other reasonable means of reducing hazards have been carried out. Identifying hazards in your workplace should be built into your regular routine. You should take active steps to get rid of all identified hazards. For example, you can: Consider other ways to get hazardous jobs done. Reduce hazardous materials or processes. Apply engineering controls to reduce or eliminate hazards.

 

 

WAC 296-800-16010

Document your hazard assessment for PPE

You must:

• Verify that a hazard assessment for PPE has been done at your workplace and complete a written certification (paper or electronic format) that includes the:
• - Name of the workplace.
• - Address of the workplace you inspected for hazards.
• - Name of person certifying that a workplace hazard assessment was done.
• - Date(s) the workplace hazard assessment was done.
• - Statement identifying the document as the certification of hazard assessment for PPE for the workplace.

WAC 296-800-16015

Select appropriate PPE for your employees

You must:

(1) Select appropriate PPE

• Select appropriate PPE for your employees if hazards are present, or likely to be present.
• Select PPE for each at-risk employee to use for protection from the hazards identified in your workplace hazard assessment.

(2) Select PPE that properly fits each at-risk employee

Note: The hazards in your workplace may have special rules that apply to them. For information about PPE for specific workplaces, see these WISHA rule books: WISHA Rule Book: Chapter (WAC) Construction Work 296-155 Electrical Workers  296-45 Fire Fighters  296-305 General Occupational Health Standards  296-62 General Safety and Health Standards 296-24 Logging Operations  296-54 Pulp, Paper, & Paperboard Mills and Converters  296-79 Ship Repairing, Ship Building and Shipbreaking  296-304 Ski Area Facilities and Operations  296-59 Telecommunication  296-32 Textile Industry  296-301

 

 

WAC 296-800-16020

Provide PPE to your employees

You must:

You must provide PPE at no cost to employees if the PPE is:

• The type that would not reasonably or normally be worn away from the workplace, such as single use or disposable PPE.
• Required to comply with a safety and health standard to protect employees wherever hazards exist from:
  
• - Processes
• - Environmental hazards
• - Physical, chemical, or radiological hazards or
• - Mechanical irritants that could cause injury or impairment to the function of any body part through absorption, inhalation, or physical contact.

• Table-X: Employer Responsibility for Providing PPE
  *This table provides examples only and is not all-inclusive.
  Part of Body	PPE employers are required to provide at no cost to employees.	Items in which employer payment is not required.
  Head	Bump caps. Hard hat. Nonconductive head protection.	---
  Eye and Face	Face shields. Goggles. Laser safety goggles. Nonprescription eye protection. Prescription eyewear inserts/lenses for full-face respirators. Welding and diving helmets.	Nonspecialty prescription safety eyewear.
  Ear	Hearing protection.	---
  Hand/Arm	Alumnizied gloves. Barrier creams (unless used solely for weather-related protection). Chemical resistant gloves/aprons/clothing. Mesh cut proof gloves. Mesh or leather aprons. Nonspecialty gloves if required to protect from dermatitis, severe cuts, or abrasions. Rubber insulating gloves. Rubber sleeves.	Hand protection used only for keeping clean or for cold weather with no safety or health consideration.
  Foot	Metatarsal foot protection. Rubber boots with steel toes. Shoe covers - toe caps and metatarsal guards. Special boots for longshoremen working logs.	Nonspecialty safety-toe protective footwear such as steel-toe shoes or boots. Sturdy work shoes. Lineman's boots. Logging boots required under chapter 296-54 WAC.
  Other	Atmosphere-supplying respirators (escape only). Climbing ensembles used by linemen such as belts and climbing hooks. Level A - fully encapsulated chemical protective suits. Level B - chemical protective clothing. Personal fall arrest systems. Personal fall restraint systems. Firefighting PPE (helmet, gloves, boots, proximity suits, full gear). Ladder safety device belts. Personal floatation devices (life jackets). Class II or III high visibility garments that meet ANSI 107-2004 specifications. Respiratory protection. SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus). Welding PPE. Window cleaner's safety straps. Items such as aprons, lab coats, goggles, disposable gloves, shoe covers, etc., used in medical/laboratory settings to protect from exposure to infectious agents.	Long sleeve shirts. Long pants. Ordinary cold weather gear (coats, parkas, cold weather gloves, winter boots). Ordinary rain gear. Dust mask/respirators used under the voluntary use provisions in chapter 296-842 WAC. Back belts. Sunglasses. Sunscreen.

WAC 296-800-16025

Train your employees to use PPE

You must:

• Communicate your PPE selection decision to each at-risk employee.
• Provide training to each employee who is required to use PPE on the job. Each affected employee must be trained to know at least the following:
• - When PPE is necessary.
• - What PPE is necessary.
• - How to put on, take off, adjust, and wear PPE.
• - Limitations of PPE.
• - Proper care, maintenance, useful life, and disposal of PPE.
• Make sure, before an employee is allowed to perform work requiring the use of PPE, that the employee can:
• - Demonstrate an understanding of the training specified above;
• AND
• - Demonstrate the ability to use PPE properly.

WAC 296-800-16030

Retrain employees to use PPE, if necessary

You must:

• Retrain an employee when you have reason to believe the understanding, motivation, and skills required to use the PPE has not been retained. Circumstances where retraining is required include:
  • - Changes in the workplace that make previous training out of date.
  • - Changes in the types of PPE to be used make previous training out of date.
  • - Work habits or demonstrated knowledge indicate that the employee has not retained the necessary understanding, skill, or motivation to use PPE.

WAC 296-800-16035

Document PPE training

You must:

• Document in writing that each employee using PPE has received and understood the required training.
• - This documentation must include:
• . Name of each employee
• . Date(s) of training
• . Subject of the training

 

 

WAC 296-800-16040

Require your employees to use necessary PPE on the job

You must:

• Require your employees to use necessary PPE on the job.

WAC 296-800-16045

Keep PPE in safe and good condition

You must:

• Make sure all PPE is safe for the work to be performed. It must:
• - Be durable.
• - Fit snugly.
• - Not interfere with the employee's movements.
• Make sure PPE is used and maintained in a clean and reliable condition.
• - Defective equipment MUST NOT be used.
• Make sure if employees provide their own PPE, that it is adequate for the workplace hazards, and maintained in a clean and reliable condition.

WAC 296-800-16050

Make sure your employees use appropriate eye and face protection

You must:

• Make sure that employees exposed to hazards that could injure their eyes and/or face use appropriate protection. Examples of these hazards include:
• - Flying particles.
• - Molten metal.
• - Liquid chemicals.
• - Acids or caustic liquids.
• - Chemical gases or vapors.
• - Any light that could injure the eyes such as lasers, ultraviolet, or infrared light.
• - Objects that puncture.
• Make sure employees exposed to hazards from flying objects have eye protection with side protection, such as safety glasses with clip-on or slide-on side shields.
• Make sure eye protection for employees who wear prescription lenses:
• - Incorporates the prescription into the design of the eye protection; or
• - Is large enough to be worn over the prescription lenses without disturbing them.
• Make sure PPE used to protect the eyes and face meet the following specific ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards.  Most commercially available PPE is marked with the specific ANSI requirements.
• - PPE bought before February 20, 1995, must meet ANSI standard Z87.1-1968.
• - PPE bought on or after February 20, 1995, must meet ANSI standard Z87.1-1989.
• - If you use eye or face protection that does not meet these ANSI standards, you must show they are equally effective.

 

WAC 296-800-16055

Make sure your employees use appropriate head protection

You must:

(1) Make sure employees wear appropriate protective helmets:

• Where employees are exposed to hazards that could cause a head injury. Examples of this type of hazard include:
• - Flying or propelled objects.
• - Falling objects or materials.
• Where employees are working around or under scaffolds or other overhead structures.
• That helmets meet the following specific ANSI standards (most commercially available PPE is marked with specific ANSI requirements):
• - Protective helmets bought before February 20, 1995, must meet ANSI standard Z89.1-1969.
• - Protective helmets bought after February 20, 1995, must meet ANSI standard Z89.1-1986.
• - If you use protective helmets that do not meet these ANSI standards, you must show they are equally effective.

(2) Make sure employees working near exposed electrical conductors that could contact their head wear a protective helmet designed (that meet the above ANSI standards) to reduce electrical shock hazard.

• Caps with metal buttons or metal visors must not be worn around electrical hazards.

(3) Make sure employees working around machinery or in locations that present a hair-catching or fire hazard wear caps or head coverings that completely cover their hair.

• Employees must wear a hair net that controls all loose ends when:
• - Hair is as long as the radius of pressure rolls with exposed in-running nip points.
• - Hair is twice as long as the circumference of exposed revolving shafts or tools in fixed machines.
• Employees must wear a hair covering of solid material when:
• - The employee is exposed to an ignition source and may run into an area containing class-1 flammable liquids, such as ether, benzene, or combustible atmospheres if their hair is on fire.

WAC 296-800-16060

Make sure your employees use appropriate foot protection

You must:

(1) Use appropriate foot protection:

• Where employees are exposed to hazards that could injure their feet. Examples of these hazards are:
• - Falling objects
• - Rolling objects
• - Piercing/cutting injuries
• - Electrical hazards
• That meets specific ANSI requirements. (Most commercially available PPE is marked with specific ANSI requirements.)
• - PPE bought before February 20, 1995, must meet ANSI standard Z41.1-1967.
• - PPE bought after February 20, 1995, must meet ANSI standard Z41-1991.
• - If you use foot protection that does not meet these ANSI standards, you must show it is equally effective.

(2) Make sure your employees wear calks or other suitable footwear to protect against slipping while they are working on top of logs.

WAC 296-800-16065

Make sure your employees use appropriate hand protection

You must:

• Make sure employees exposed to hazards that could injure their hands use appropriate hand protection. Examples of these hazards include:
• - Absorbing harmful substances
• - Severe cuts, lacerations or abrasions
• - Punctures
• - Chemical burns and/or thermal burns
• - Harmful temperature extremes
• Make sure when choosing hand protection, you consider how well the hand protection performs relative to the:
• - Task
• - Conditions present
• - Duration of use
• - Hazards
• - Potential hazards

WAC 296-800-16070

Make sure your employees are protected from drowning

You must:

(1) Provide and make sure your employees wear personal flotation devices (PFD):

• When they work in areas where the danger of drowning exists, such as:
• - On the water
• - Over the water
• - Alongside the water

Note: Employees are not exposed to the danger of drowning when: Employees are working behind standard height and strength guardrails. Employees are working inside operating cabs or stations that eliminate the possibility of accidentally falling into the water. Employees are wearing an approved safety belt with a lifeline attached that prevents the possibility of accidentally falling into the water.

You must:

• Provide your employees with PFDs approved by the United States Coast Guard for use on commercial or merchant vessels.  The following are appropriate or allowable United States Coast Guard-approved PFDs:

 

You must:

• Inspect PFDs before and after each use for defects and make sure that defective PFDs are not used.

(2) Provide approved life rings with an attached line on all docks, walkways, and fixed installations on, or adjacent to, water more than 5 feet deep.

• Life rings must:
• - Be United States Coast Guard approved 30 inch size.
• - Have attached lines that are at least 90 feet in length.
• - Have attached lines at least 1/4 inch in diameter.
• - Have attached lines with a minimum breaking strength of 500 pounds.
• - Be spaced no more than 200 feet apart.
• - Be kept in easily visible and readily accessible locations.
• Life rings and attached lines must:
• - Be maintained to retain at least 75 percent of their designed buoyancy and strength.
• - Be provided in the immediate vicinity when employees are assigned work at other casual locations where the risk of drowning exists.
• Work assigned over water where the vertical drop from an accidental fall would be more than 50 feet, must be subject to specific procedures as approved by the Department.