Guidelines in Using Personal Protective Equipment for Welding and Cutting

Personal protective equipment refers to all clothing and work accessories designed to make a barrier against workplace hazards. Examples of these are safety goggles, blast shields, hard hats, hearing protectors, gloves, respirators, apron and work boots.

The purpose of personal protective equipment is to prevent the transfer of harmful materials to the person wearing it and to protect them from risks of injury and illness. The most common channels of exposure to these hazards include inhalation, skin contact and ingestion.

But there are ways to prevent injuries and one of them is to wear the proper personal protective equipment for the type of job you are doing. This article will provide you with the personal protective equipment that most workers wear and some guidelines in using them.

EYE AND FACE PROTECTION
A lot of people are blinded each year because of work-related eye injuries. That is why wearing of proper eye and face protection is required to prevent such injuries. Examples of eye and face protection equipment are safety glasses, goggles, and face shields.

Guidelines:

• Always wear a helmet with filter lens and cover plate that complies for protection from radiant energy, flying sparks and spatter.
• Make sure that you put on safety glasses with side shields, or goggles, under your helmet.
• Select the filter lens shade that complies for protection.
• Remember that contact lenses are not a replacement for correct eye and face protection.
• The face shields must be placed over the top of splash goggles.
• Always guarantee that the glasses must fit and that the lenses are not scratched or clouded.
• Full-face shields must give protection to the face and throat from flying particles and liquid splash.

HEAD AND EAR PROTECTION
Working with tools that produce dust or debris could fly into you and might hit your face and enter your ears. Wearing the proper head and ear protection can help prevent casualties while doing the task.

Guidelines:

• Always wear a fire-resistant welder’s cap or other head covering under your helmet. This will shield your head and hair from flying sparks, spatter, burns and radiation.
• Ensure that you wear approved earplugs or earmuffs. The task might produce too much noise so it is best to protect your ears and prevent hearing loss. These will also prevent sparks, spatter, and hot metal from entering your ears and causing burns.

HAND PROTECTION
The use of hand protection is of extreme importance when welding because the worker’s hands are exposed to hazards such as those from skin absorption of dangerous substances, serious lacerations, chemical burns, and many more.

Guidelines:

• Be sure to wear dry, hole-free, insulated welding gloves in good condition at all times because they will protect your hands from burns, heat, cuts, sparks, and electric shock.
• Also assure that you put on protective flame-resistant gloves, like leather welder gloves, because they give general hand protection needed for welding.
• Choose gloves based on the properties of the material in use, the degree of protection needed, and the nature of the work.

FOOT PROTECTION
Statistics show that there are tens of thousands of disabling workplace foot injuries each year. Protective footwear should be worn in areas where there is the possibility for foot injuries from falling or rolling objects, from objects piercing the sole, or from exposed energized electrical conductors that could contact the feet.

Guidelines:

• Make sure you use boots that meet the necessary requirements. Look for a compliance mark inside your boot.
• Always put on leather, steel-topped boots in perfect condition as it will protect your feet and ankles from injuries.
• In heavy spark or slag areas, ensure that you wear fire-resistant boot protector or leather spats. Ascertain that they are strapped around your pant legs and boot tops to prevent injury and burns.

BODY PROTECTION
Welders are required to wear personal protective equipment for the parts of the body that are exposed to possible injury. Examples of body protection are coveralls, vests, aprons, jacket, and full body suits.

Guidelines:

• Dress yourself in oil-free protective clothing that is made of wool or heavy cotton. It is ideal to wear heavier materials because they are harder to ignite and resist wear and damage.
• Make sure you wear clothing that covers all areas of exposed skin. Be clothed in long sleeved shirts and button the cuffs, pockets and collar. This will protect your arms and neck from radiation exposure and skin burns.
• Only wear dry clothing because this lessens the possibility of electric shock.
• Always wear heavy, durable, long pants without cuffs that overlap the tops of your boots.
• Take away all flammables like matches and cigarette lighters from your pocket.
• Never wear synthetic fabrics as they can burn quickly, melt, stick to your skin and consequently result to serious burns.
• Put on leather aprons, leggings, capes and sleeves as required for the application because leather offers better protection than most materials.

Learning the guidelines in choosing and using the personal protective equipment is the key to a danger-free welding and cutting job. Moreover, the joined efforts of both employers and employees in building and maintaining a safe working environment are necessary to guarantee the highest possible protection for employees in the workplace. Therefore, it is vital that employers provide the proper equipment to protect their employees from hazards, and at the same time, workers must be trained on how to use and care for these equipment.

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