Twelve Tips to help ensure Safety Clothing Protects as it should.

For those of us closely involved in the protective clothing industry it can be frustrating - it is too often apparent that many such images are examples of how NOT to wear safety clothing if you want it to actually protect as it is designed to. So how do you ensure workers wear safety clothing properly and minimise the risks of protection being compromised?

An example of how not to wear safety clothing is provided by the image below – of a worker in Ukraine disinfecting the contaminated interior of a bus where not only is the face mask not covering the nose, the coverall zip is left partially open leaving several inches of neck exposed. The fact is, if there is a pathogen hazard present, this worker is risking contamination by not wearing the PPE properly.

And this is not unusual or restricted to medical applications or to protective clothing used for viral protection; those of us regularly visiting factories around the world are used to seeing safety clothing worn in a way that means it will not protect as it should.

How can you ensure safety clothing is worn correctly?

Disposable protective clothing is designed, manufactured and worn for a reason: to protect against hazards. And those hazards may have a devastating effect on a wearers’ life – or even end it. So the process of donning protective clothing and making sure it is worn correctly is not a minor issue. Selecting the right safety clothing is only one part of the protective process. Wearing it properly is at least as important.

There is no guarantee of course; but by establishing proper donning procedures and effective and regularly reinforced training the risk can be minimised

With five decades experience working with users to design and manufacture safety clothing for protection against chemicals and pathogenic hazards, Lakeland are well versed in the wearing of suits as well as in the making of them. So to avoid the faults seen in the image here, maximise protection and minimise the risk of contamination, below are twelve tips on the donning and wearing disposable protective clothing.