Personal Protective Equipment Claims in Ireland
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) means any device or appliance designed to be worn or held by an individual for protection against one or more health and safety hazards. Respiratory Protection Equipment (RPE) is a particular type of personal protection equipment used to protect the individual wearer against inhalation of hazardous substances in the workplace air.
The hazards addressed by protection equipment include physical, electrical, heat, chemicals, bio-hazard and air borne particulate matter.
Protection equipment may be worn for job/related occupational safety and health purposes as well as for sport and other recreational activities. Protective clothing is applied to particular categories of clothing and protective gear applies to items such as pads, guards, shields or masks and others.
The purpose of personal protective equipment is to reduce employee exposure to hazards when engineering and administrative controls are feasible or effective to reduce these risks to acceptable levels. PPE is needed when there are hazards present in an employment context.
The Safety Health and Welfare Work Regulations 2007 cover the use of Personal Protective Equipment at work. PPE has its limitations because it only protects the wearer, it is not effective when it is not working or fitted properly, levels of protection are seldom reached in practice and the use of PPE always restricts the wearer to some degree.
Duties of Employers
Under the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 there is a duty on employees to wear the PPE provided. PPE users must be trained as regards the wearing, proper use and any limitations of PPE and Managers should be aware of the reasons for providing PPE, its proper use and in particular the level of protection afforded.
If you have suffered a work injury due to the lack of appropriate personal protective equipment and you want to make a claim for compensation against your employer you should complete the attached online personal injury claim form and return it to our firm as soon as possible and we will contact you with the further steps required to progress your claim.
Download the following Instruction Sheet and return it us:
CLIENTS INSTRUCTIONS FORM FOR SLIP AND FALL, WORK RELATED ACCIDENTS, PUBLIC LIABILITY INJURIES
Had an Accident? Fill in our online Accident Form and get an answer within 24 hours.
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