Personal Protection Equipment (PPE’s) is one of the most important pieces of equipment that should be at every job site. It offers salubrious benefits, and helps maintain everyone’s safety. Different jobs require different PPE’s. Here’s a run-down of the most commonly used PPE’s for all of our commercial painting, industrial painting, and epoxy flooring projects:
- Bump Cap/Hard Hat –
- Our job environments don’t always require bump caps or hard hats. When working in office areas, or clean rooms, or warehouses, it’s uncommon to require hard hats. The facility doesn’t request them in their required PPE’s, and the area doesn’t pose a threat that would require the need for a bump cap. But every once and a while, we do get placed in industrial, construction zones that require hard hats. When cranes, and loose debris are being constructed, hard hats are important. Additionally, if painting a facility’s ceiling, and there are pipes and I-beams, and other obstructions, then it is often required by the facility, and our own Project Manager to ensure the crew is wearing a bump cap.
- Eye Protection –
- Eye protection is always required. Whether we are only painting bollards, or if we’re grinding an entire slab, eye protection is always required. An eye is too sensitive to flying debris, and should be protected at all times. But glasses aren’t enough. Safety glasses need side shields, so that flying obstructions can’t come in contact from the side. So regardless of what type of work you’re conducting, proper safety glasses are required.
- Hearing protection –
- For the most part, ear protection is required only in manufacturing facilities. Their loud equipment and machinery increase the decibels beyond a safe threshold for an unprotected human ear. So in all manufacturing areas, hearing protection is required. This is not the same for warehouses and office environments. However, regardless of the area, we do require our installers to wear hearing protection during specific operations. If someone is power washing, blasting, spraying, hand grinding, or working a walk-behind grinder, then we mandate that installers are to wear hearing protection. Ear plugs are the most common form of hearing protection for commercial and industrial painting. But sometimes, when we have to blast areas, the ear muffs are required.
- Hand Protection
- When dealing with paints and epoxies, cotton gloves typically serve the best. They are relatively versatile, and can handle a lot of flexibility. They absorb enough paint and epoxy so that your hands can stay reasonably clean. But when using mineral spirits or denatured alcohol, we request our installers to use coated cotton gloves. The coated gloves help protect the installers. Many solvents can be exposed through the skin, which can have an adverse affect on your health and safety. But when grinding, the installers are required to wear tear-proof gloves, to ensure their protection from high-speed grinders.
- Feet Protection
- The most common foot protection is leather, steel-toed boots with meta guards. When dealing with epoxy flooring and facility painting, there are many heavy pieces of equipment and material that could cause damage if striking your foot. Although this may seem like a common PPE requirement, some facilities only require leather boots. Even if the facility only calls for leather boots, most installers will still wear their steel-toed boots, due to the nature of the heavy equipment and material frequently used on epoxy flooring jobs, and commercial painting jobs.
These are some of the most common PPE’s for each job. However, there are more safety concerns that a Project Estimator needs to consider when looking at potential work including fork-lift traffic, fall protection, hot pipes, or anything else that needs to be considered to ensure someone’s safety.
PennCoat, Inc. has been providing industrial painting, commercial painting, epoxy flooring, and polished concrete services for nearly 30 years. Our experienced installers are trained and equipped with the proper knowledge and tools to ensure that every installation is installed efficiently and safely. PennCoat, Inc. provides service to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware. And we cover York, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Chester, Montgomery, Baltimore, Harrisburg, Dauphin, Bucks, Berks, and other counties in the surrounding area.
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