Personal protective equipment

What is Personal Protective Equipment?

PPE is a device or an appliance that is designed to be worn or even held at the work place for protection, for example shin pads in football is a form of PPE. PPE is defined in the regulations as all equipment including clothing, footwear and head protection, for example it protects you from things such as weather and hazardous chemicals. The protective equipment has to be worn at all times in the work place; the equipment consists of helmets, gloves, eye protection (goggles) and safety footwear (steel toe cap boots). The main thing that this legislation contains is the PPE at work regulations act, the act says that protective equipment should be provided at the work place where ever there is a risk of injury. An example of this is when our sports centre is running a trampoline lesson; the employees need to make sure that the trampolines are surrounded by crash mats.

The regulation containments require that PPE is

- Everything is properly assessed before use to make sure it is safe.

- All equipment is stored away in a safe place properly

- All equipment is provided with safety instructions

- All equipment is used safely by employees.

How can PPE affect in a sporting environment? It can affect the sporting environment because different sports require different safety equipment, for example, when playing rugby on the grass we need to make sure all clients have the correct footwear and you will also need a gum shield. If one of the clients didn't have the correct equipment and then he hurt himself he could then sue the sports centre. So before each client goes outside to play rugby there should be 2-4 employees checking that everyone has the correct footwear and a gum shield. You need the correct footwear because you can slip outside on the grass and you can damage different ligaments or even muscles in your legs.

Health and Safety work act 1974

The Health and safety at work act, is an act which states that all workers have the right to be safe where risks to their health and safety is controlled in a working environment. In this act the employer isn’t fully responsible for your health so the employees also have to help keep risks low.

The main objective of this act is to secure the health and safety of every employee at work, this means that the employer has to make sure the employee is safe at work.

Duties of the employer

Each employer should fill out a risk assessment form to try and prevent any health and safety hazards. Employees should make sure that the work place is safe for all employees; the employer should also provide a first aid kit and a first aid room.

The employer should also provide clean toilet facilities that the employees can use throughout the whole day.

Duties of the employee

In this act the employees don’t have much to follow but they still have to play a part in this act. Employees must make reasonable of their own and other people’s health at the work place. The employees must follow the health and safety rules so there is a smaller chance of risk.

Health and safety in a sporting environment

Health and safety plays a massive role in sport, every sports centre must follow this act. Health and safety will take part in every sport; it is used in sports such as football, rugby, cricket and kayaking. An example of this is if you are playing in the sports hall and there are a few wet patches someone could potentially slip and it would then be the coaches’ fault for not checking the floor for any wet patches. What the coach should do is call one of the grounds staff to clear the water up.

COSHH

This legislation requires all employers to control all substances that are a hazard to health. The employer should prevent exposure of these hazardous substances.

Regulations state that employers must:

- Asses risks to health and safety

- Prevent or control exposure to these substances

- Monitor exposure and carry out health surveillance if appropriate

- Ensure all staff are properly trained, informed and supervised.

- Make sure that the control measures are used and maintained

Responsibilities of the employer

The employers’ responsibility is to teach the employees about COSHH. All employees need to understand how to carry out risk assessments for COSHH

Responsibilities of the employee

The responsibilities of the employee are to know everything about COSHH, and to be able to carry out a risk assessment for COSHH.

COSHH in a sporting environment

COSHH can affect sport centres in many ways the main one is swimming pools. COSHH has to be carried out at every swimming pool to check that the chlorine levels are at the right level. If the chlorine levels are too high it can affect people with sensitive skin. Chlorine is needed in pools to keep the water clean.

Manual handling operations regulation 1992

Manual handling operations regulations 1992 doesn’t really have any specific limits such as weight limits. The manual handling operations” means any transporting or supporting of a load (including the lifting, putting down, pushing, and pulling, carrying or moving) by hand or by bodily force. So the person should only lift or push as much as they can, no more weight should be added on to their maximum. This is called the ergonomic approach; it is used to reduce the risk of manual handling.

Employers’ duties

Employers should try and avoid manual handling wherever possible, and they should assess the risk of those manual handling that cannot be avoided, so the employers should try and reduce injury as much as they can. Employers should show all employees the correct way to lift and shift the weight.

Employees’ duties

Employees should follow the manual handling systems keep risks at a low level. All employees should use equipment to help them lift the weight for example a wheelbarrow.

Manual handling in a sporting environment

There are many manual handling hazards in sport, the main one on our sports centre is when the employees are packing away the trampolines and they have to lift the trampoline so the legs an be folded away properly.