The Hidden Challenges of PPE and Active Fall Protection

91% of surveyed safety managers report they sometimes or often have issues with employees wearing appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment)

In an effort to better understand the challenges facing safety managers across the country, the JJ Keller Center conducted a survey of 172 such professionals, asking them about their biggest PPE-related obstacles.

The most commonly cited PPE challenge was not cost, functionality, or availability – instead, it was getting employees to wear their PPE in the first place.

Eighty-three percent of respondents said they often have issues with employees wearing their PPE, with another 8% saying they sometimes do. The most common reason why, according to these safety professionals, was that their employees “just didn’t want to wear it” (72% of respondents) with another 52% saying they have had workers say they “didn’t think it was necessary.”

This is a difficult challenge to overcome, as it requires buy-in from your staff – and close managerial oversight to ensure its execution. When it comes to an active fall-protection system, this means monitoring employees to guarantee they use their harnesses, lifelines, and anchor points.

But what if this PPE challenge – employee usage – could be entirely eliminated? With a guardrail-based rooftop safety system, it can.

The beauty of guardrails is their simplicity: they require no active participation on behalf of the workers. Everybody performing maintenance on the roof is protected at all times – without needing to engage with the equipment at all. Why worry about whether or not your employees will wear their PPE at all (resulting in both potential injuries or fatalities as well as compliance concerns) when you can install safety rails and guarantee it?

Contact SRC today to see how we can build a passive fall-protection system for your facility, and bypass the challenges of worker PPE buy-in.

Sources here and here.