Selecting the right RPE

Work activities may result in harmful substances contaminating the air in the form of dust, mist, fume, fibre, vapour, gas or fume. Where controls measures at source are not reasonably practicable or inadequate, workers may breathe in contaminated air. In some work situations, they may also need to work in areas where oxygen levels are low, for example: confined spaces, such as a chamber or tank.

 

In order to protect the health and life of the exposed workers, employers often use RPE. In the UK, several million pounds are spent each year on purchasing, using, and maintaining RPE. 

 

However, in order to achieve the required protection and the return on investment on RPE, every RPE used at work should be selected to be adequate and suitable. This means:

• Adequate – It is right for the hazard and reduces exposure to the level required to protect the wearer’s health.
• Suitable – It is right for the wearer, task and environment, such that the wearer can work freely and without additional risks due to the RPE.

 

Sadly, many employers fail to select RPE meeting the basic requirements or train their workers to use it correctly. For example, if an employer provides an inadequate or an ill-fitting mask costing £3.00, they will have to earn about £3.90  (based on 30 % margin before VAT) to support the provision of a single respirator. Inadequate and unsuitable RPE means the worker will be left unprotected and the employer wastes money instead of earning and spending it wisely.

 

HSE and many of its stakeholders are well aware of this situation and they have invested considerable amounts of resources to help employers, specially the small and medium sized. Today, there is a dedicated RPE contents on HSE and the Scottish Centre for the Healthy Working lives (SCHWL) web sites to nudge employers and employees to make right decisions. These two sites provide access to the RPE selector tool jointly developed by the HSE and the SCHWL.

 

This is a highly interactive web-based tool and takes account of the critical parameters associated with adequacy and suitability. The logic based programme that runs the tool allows it to recommend RPE for a variety of combinations associated with the four overarching variables – the hazardous substance, the work environment, the task and the wearers. In all, the tool has over 10,000 possible outcomes, reflecting the complex nature of RPE selection.

The tool has ten steps and the structure is shown in Table 1. This tool is codified in a way that the web-page owner – NHS-Scotland- does not have access to the details of the users (company and user related entries at step 3 of the procedure) and no registration or pass words are required to use the tool. 

 

As always, RPE fails to danger, we have taken steps to provide safe guards at all stages of the steps during the use of the tool. Where the user is not able to provide yes or no type answer based on a detailed description of a given parameter, there is an "unsure” button, which defaults to direct the user to seek expert help.

Providing the user has relevant, but simple information on all four overarching parameters, they should be able to print out a selection of recommended RPE. Another innovation in this tool is that it provides RPE selection for commonly encountered process generated substances (PGSs) such as welding fume, which does not come with a safety data sheet. The tool print out will provide recommended RPE for the conditions entered by the user and how to correctly use the selected RPE by simple Dos and

Don’t instruction.

 

Finally, the tool is designed for RPE selection for normal working conditions. It should not be used for selecting RPE required for emergency work/rescue, under water work or any other condition (for example, for protection against micro organisms or carbon monoxide) stipulated in the tool. 

This tool was developed in consultation with many stakeholders. It is supported by originations such as IOSH, IIRASM, BOHS, IOM, SGUK, BSIF and TUC.

Robert Atkinson