A Few Ways to Get Workers to use Their PPE

Do you struggle with getting your employees to actually use the gloves and other protective equipment you provide for them? If so, we’ve rounded up a few easy ways to help increase the likelihood that your employees will utilize their personal protective equipment on the job.

1. Actions Speak Louder Than Words: If you as the supervisor are not willing to regularly use personal protective equipment, then your employees likely won’t either. By setting the precedent through a good example, your employees are more likely to follow suit because you’re establishing trust and credibility by doing the very thing you’re asking them to do.
2. Education is Key: Employees are more likely to follow guidelines if they are not asked to simply follow blindly. When you take the time to explain and educate them about the reason behind certain safety policies, they’re more likely to abide by the policy because they recognize how it is helping to protect them against serious hazards.
3. Lend a Listening Ear: When you allow there to be open lines of communication between you and your employees, you give them the opportunity to have more buy in when it comes to personal protective equipment. You can get their input about what types of gloves they’d prefer and recommendations for other equipment as well. Open lines of communication mean you also must receive the negative feedback and respond promptly and effectively.
4. Use the Right Equipment: This may seem simple enough, but the ease of use is a very important factor when it comes to PPE compliance. Not only do you want to purchase PPE that is adequately protecting your employees, but you want to make sure that the gloves or other equipment are super simple to use, clean, and maintain. In some cases, it may be even easiest to use disposable PPE if it still offers the appropriate protection. One example of using the right equipment might be to make sure you purchase work gloves with a textured palm and fingers so that employees are able to maintain a good working grip on their tools and equipment.
5. Don’t Forget to Follow Through: It is one thing to get employees on board with new policies, but it is another thing to enforce those policies down the road. It is easy for employees to become complacent when policies and procedures become routine. Perform routine audits and check in on your employees regularly to ensure they are utilizing their PPE. The fact of the matter is that you, as the employer, have the right to require your employees to use PPE as you have made it a necessary procedure.