In a day where having protective equipment on site or at your facility is required by the employer rather than the employee I see a lot of companies running into the same issue. Who should budget for PPE? Who should create the policies for Safety? When I talk with customers there are a lot of different ways companies have incorporated safety programs, budgeting, and purchasing. Here is a great article as seen in the October 2012 issue of ISHN. For more information, go to www.ishn.com.
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From the trenches: Strategies for buying PPE
Recently we came across this online discussion group topic: “Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)…. Which department in the company should budget and pay for it? What do you think of safety department paying for PPE for all departments in the company? “
Here are the responses:
“Every department should be charged for its PPE but Engineering should pay 65% of cost of PPE and Maintenance be charged 20% of PPE cost. E/OHS department could be charged between 3% – 5%.
This encourages Engineering to find means of eliminating the hazard or engineering a means of reducing exposure or substituting a less hazardous product or process that reduces hazard severity and/or worker exposure.
It also encourages Maintenance to have and follow detailed preventative maintenance program to eliminate hazards associated with equipment not being within specifications and SOP.
It also encourages each production department to train workers on proper equipment operation, associated hazards, how minimize exposure and where to get additional information about the hazard(s).
“This approach will help minimize the need for PPE and increase worker understanding and proper use of appropriate PPE. “
“I don’t believe completely charging PPE to the E/OHS department is a good practice. When things are getting eliminated to lower the budget, safety is all too easy a target in as much as it’s not always easy to recognize injuries/illnesses that aren’t happening and conclude the expense is wasted.”
Posted by benleroy 
