154 Machine Safeguarding: Basic

Protective Clothing and Personal Protective Equipment

Using engineering controls to eliminate the hazard at the source offers the best and most reliable means of machine safeguarding. Therefore, engineering controls must be the employer's first choice for eliminating machine hazards. But whenever engineering controls are not available or are not fully capable of protecting the employee (an extra measure of protection is necessary), operators must wear protective clothing or personal protective equipment.

If it is to provide adequate protection, PPE must be:

1. appropriate for the particular hazards;
2. maintained in good condition;
3. properly stored when not in use, to prevent damage or loss; and
4. kept clean, fully functional, and sanitary.

It is important to note that protective clothing and equipment can create hazards.

• Protective gloves can become caught on or between rotating parts,
• Loose-fitting shirts might become entangled in rotating spindles or other kinds of moving machinery.
• Jewelry, such as bracelets and rings, can catch on machine parts or stock and lead to serious injury by pulling a hand into the danger area, or amputating fingers.
• Always arrange hair, including beards, so that it does not hang free. Workers have literally been scalped or killed when their hair has been caught in rotating parts.

It is very important to not let your hair hang down or wear gloves, loose clothing, or jewelry when working around rotating parts. Fatalities associated with rotating parts are gruesome. NEVER work around rotating parts without proper guarding. Enough said.

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