You will determine the effectiveness of personal protective equipment based on:
- exposure time;
- the concentration of the initial atmosphere;
- contact time;
- the durability of the PPE and its vulnerability to climatic conditions;
- its maintenance, the management of its consumables, expiry dates;
- its appropriate use (training, awareness, hygiene, etc.);
- its adaptation to the morphology of the users…
Attention, also keep in mind that each personal protective equipment is specific to a product or a family of products in particular conditions of use and can be totally ineffective in other conditions.
You will determine whether the area of use of the PPE corresponds to your actual situation.
Here you will need to assess:
- if there is a combination of several chemicals on the same workstation;
- whether frequent changing of PPE during the same task is feasible, realistic;
- whether the PPE is suitable for all the products likely to be present during the task to be performed;
- whether the wearing of PPE is suitable for the task to be performed;
- if the time of its implementation is in line with the task to be performed, what are the impacts to be expected on the manufacturing process?
Finally, you will evaluate the costs of PPE:
- purchase and their renewals;
- for maintenance operations, periodic regulatory checks to be planned;
- for periodic training to be provided to staff;
- for waste disposal when single-use or disposable.