PPE Overload

Safety glasses, gloves, respirator, hard hat, long sleeves, welding lid, knee pads, traction aid, ear plugs the list goes on and on. Sometimes donning your PPE can feel like a Stormtrooper gearing up to save the death star. In every trades person’s career, there will be times when you may get the urge to take something off for just a second, not realizing that it only takes a second for an injury to occur. Three days into a new job as a second year welding apprentice, I took my gloves off to put colored tape on something I just inspected and I sliced my thumb pretty bad. My foreman was standing right there and off to first aid I went. I ended up getting written up for taking my gloves off. At the time I was furious. But now looking back, it was a lesson well learned. Something more serious could have happened to me. Whether your respirator is too bulky under your welding lid, your safety glasses don’t look cool, or your gloves are bunchy, make sure you keep ALL of your PPE on to protect yourself. Even if you do happen to look like a Stormtrooper.