PPE Hazard Assessment and General Requirements

29 CFR 1910.132 is OSHA's general rule for personal protective equipment (PPE). It deals with hazards that can injure a worker, or impair any part of the body, through absorption, inhalation, or physical contact. It requires you to assess your workplace for hazards that call for PPE, select equipment that protects and fits each affected employee, train the people who use it, and provide it at no cost to employees, with listed exceptions.

Who it applies to

This section is in Subpart I (Personal Protective Equipment) of 29 CFR Part 1910.

Protective equipment, including PPE for eyes, face, head, and extremities, protective clothing, respiratory devices, and protective shields and barriers, must be provided, used, and maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition wherever it is necessary because of hazards of processes or environment, chemical hazards, radiological hazards, or mechanical irritants encountered in a manner capable of causing injury or impairment in the function of any part of the body through absorption, inhalation, or physical contact (1910.132(a)).

The hazard assessment paragraph (d) and the training paragraph (f) apply only to these sections (1910.132(g)):

• 1910.133, eye and face protection
• 1910.135, head protection
• 1910.136, foot protection
• 1910.138, hand protection
• 1910.140, personal fall protection systems

Paragraphs (d) and (f) do not apply to 1910.134 (respiratory protection) or 1910.137 (electrical protective equipment) (1910.132(g)).

What the standard requires

Safe design, and no damaged equipment

• All PPE must be of safe design and construction for the work to be performed (1910.132(c)).
• Defective or damaged PPE must not be used (1910.132(e)).

Employee-owned equipment

Where employees provide their own protective equipment, you are responsible to assure its adequacy, including proper maintenance and sanitation of that equipment (1910.132(b)).

You may allow an employee to use adequate protective equipment he or she owns, and you are not required to reimburse the employee for it. But you must not require an employee to provide or pay for his or her own PPE, unless the PPE is excepted by paragraphs (h)(2) through (h)(5) (1910.132(h)(6)).

Hazard assessment and PPE selection

You must assess the workplace to determine if hazards are present, or are likely to be present, that necessitate the use of PPE (1910.132(d)(1)). If such hazards are present, or likely to be present, you must:

• Select, and have each affected employee use, the types of PPE that will protect the affected employee from the hazards identified in the hazard assessment (1910.132(d)(1)(i)).
• Communicate selection decisions to each affected employee (1910.132(d)(1)(ii)).
• Select PPE that properly fits each affected employee (1910.132(d)(1)(iii)).

A note to paragraph (d)(1) says non-mandatory Appendix B contains an example of procedures that would comply with the hazard assessment requirement. Appendix B to Subpart I is non-mandatory guidance, not a requirement, and the items below come from that appendix rather than from 1910.132 itself. The appendix suggests a walk-through survey that considers these basic hazard categories: impact, penetration, compression (roll-over), chemical, heat, harmful dust, and light (optical) radiation. It also suggests reassessing the workplace "as necessary".

Paying for PPE

Protective equipment, including PPE, used to comply with Part 1910 (not only this section) must be provided by you at no cost to employees, except as provided in paragraphs (h)(2) through (h)(6) (1910.132(h)(1)).

You are not required to pay for:

• Non-specialty safety-toe protective footwear (including steel-toe shoes or steel-toe boots) and non-specialty prescription safety eyewear, provided that you permit these items to be worn off the job site (1910.132(h)(2)).
• The logging boots required by 29 CFR 1910.266(d)(1)(v) (1910.132(h)(4)(i)).
• Everyday clothing, such as long-sleeve shirts, long pants, street shoes, and normal work boots (1910.132(h)(4)(ii)).
• Ordinary clothing, skin creams, or other items used solely for protection from weather, such as winter coats, jackets, gloves, parkas, rubber boots, hats, raincoats, ordinary sunglasses, and sunscreen (1910.132(h)(4)(iii)).

When you provide metatarsal guards and allow the employee, at his or her request, to use shoes or boots with built-in metatarsal protection, you are not required to reimburse the employee for the shoes or boots (1910.132(h)(3)).

You must pay for replacement PPE, except when the employee has lost or intentionally damaged the PPE (1910.132(h)(5)).

Training

You must provide training to each employee who is required by this section to use PPE. Each such employee must be trained to know at least the following (1910.132(f)(1)):

• When PPE is necessary (1910.132(f)(1)(i))
• What PPE is necessary (1910.132(f)(1)(ii))
• How to properly don, doff, adjust, and wear PPE (1910.132(f)(1)(iii))
• The limitations of the PPE (1910.132(f)(1)(iv))
• The proper care, maintenance, useful life, and disposal of the PPE (1910.132(f)(1)(v))

Each affected employee must demonstrate an understanding of this training, and the ability to use PPE properly, before being allowed to perform work requiring the use of PPE (1910.132(f)(2)).

You must retrain when you have reason to believe that any affected employee who has already been trained does not have the understanding and skill required by paragraph (f)(2) (1910.132(f)(3)). Circumstances where retraining is required include, but are not limited to, situations where:

• Changes in the workplace render previous training obsolete (1910.132(f)(3)(i)).
• Changes in the types of PPE to be used render previous training obsolete (1910.132(f)(3)(ii)).
• Inadequacies in an affected employee's knowledge or use of assigned PPE indicate that the employee has not retained the requisite understanding or skill (1910.132(f)(3)(iii)).

Written programs and records

You must verify that the required workplace hazard assessment has been performed through a written certification (1910.132(d)(2)). The certification must identify:

• The workplace evaluated
• The person certifying that the evaluation has been performed
• The date(s) of the hazard assessment
• The document itself as a certification of hazard assessment

As published on osha.gov, 1910.132 does not include a paragraph requiring a written certification of training.

Easy-to-miss requirements

• The certification has to say what it is. The written certification must identify the document as a certification of hazard assessment (1910.132(d)(2)).
• Fit is part of selection. You must select PPE that properly fits each affected employee (1910.132(d)(1)(iii)).
• Understanding comes before the work. Each affected employee must demonstrate understanding of the training, and the ability to use PPE properly, before being allowed to perform work requiring the use of PPE (1910.132(f)(2)).
• The footwear and eyewear exception has a condition. It applies provided that you permit the non-specialty safety-toe footwear and non-specialty prescription safety eyewear to be worn off the job site (1910.132(h)(2)).

Related guides

• Eye and face protection in construction (29 CFR 1926.102)
• Respiratory protection (29 CFR 1910.134)
• Fall protection in construction (29 CFR 1926.501)

Source

This guide is based on the text of 29 CFR 1910.132 and non-mandatory Appendix B to Subpart I as published on osha.gov. The regulation itself always controls. States that run their own OSHA-approved State Plans may have additional or stricter rules.