Personal Protective Equipment Evaluation: Is Yours Documented?
It’s one thing to provide safety glasses to employees for eye protection or a pair of gloves to prevent nicks and cuts to hands and fingers, but it’s also important to document the selection and use of personal protective equipment through a written hazard assessment.
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration requires written certification in their Personal Protective Equipment Standard, 29 CFR 1910.132, General Requirements, as follows.
The employer shall verify that the required workplace hazard assessment has been performed through a written certification that identifies the workplace evaluated; the person certifying that the evaluation has been performed; the date(s) of the hazard assessment; and, which identifies the document as a certification of hazard assessment.
For MEMIC policyholders, a sample Personal Protective Equipment Hazard Assessment Certificate is available in the Safety Director Resource Library. This certificate categorizes the protection assessment into tables for the eye and face, head, foot, hand, and work clothing for bodily injury with a space provided for the certifier’s name, title, and signature.
Using a hazard assessment certificate form can guide you through the selection of appropriate PPE based on the job hazard(s) and can also save you the pain of an OSHA citation.
