SAFETY SOLUTIONS: Eye Safety & Safety Glasses

Q:If you are a safety health or environmental professional, or even a certified professional in this field, did you know that you are required by law to fit test workers when you give them safety glasses? If you did not, your company just violated the OSHA or State OSHA regulation.

I do not know of many SH&E professionals that have followed the requirement of fit testing safety glasses by using a tool to ensure that their workers safety glass fit. But then again there are a lot of “Certified” safety health and environmental professionals out there that just took a test to become certified.

Here is what OSHA states on hazard assessment and equipment selection:

• 1910.132 (d)(1) The employer shall assess the workplace to determine if hazards are present, or are likely to be present, which necessitate the use of per-sonal protective equipment (PPE). If such hazards are present, or likely to be present, the employer shall:
• 1910.132 (d)(1)(i) 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)(ii) Communicate selection decisions to each affected employee; and,
• 1910.132 (d)(1)(iii) Select PPE that properly fits each affected employee.
• 1910.132 (d)(2) 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 more information on protecting your employees’ eyes, your eyes, or your family members’ eyes, please reference this informative article from 3M “Using the 3M™ Eyewear Fit System” which can be found at https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1469148O/3m-eyewear-fit-test-system-procedure-protocol-en.PDF.

This also happens with the wearing of head protection. Most companies wear the wrong type of head protection, usually it is a Type 1 that only protects the worker from small objects hitting the top of the helmet and not a Type 2 that gives the worker protection from top, front, side, and rear. Many have never read the label inside their helmet that told them this information.

Federal and State OSHA inspectors have just changed to the new Type 2 head protection for protecting their inspectors. Do not let them catch you wearing the wrong type.

PD&F Magazine features a professional association, The International Association of Safety, Health & Environmental Professionals (IASHEP) in this magazine. IASHEP provides a free certified personal protective equipment course for their members. This certified course is valued at $795.00. IASHEP membership is $100.00 per year and part of your membership fee goes to their two charities; St. Jude Research Hospital for Children, and Tunnel to Towers. To join IASHEP please visit www.iashep.org and go to the membership section.

If you want to take the Certified Personal Protective Equipment Specialist Course (CPPES) course, and you are a member of IASHEP, you can go to the website and download the course registration form.

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