Reviewing your RPE Strategy – the Anchor Safety Guide to ensuring your approach stays relevant.
Change is a constant challenge in workplace safety provision, especially when it comes to PPE which needs to fit perfectly to be effective. RPE is a particular area of concern, where ‘making do’ is never a safe option.
Changing needs in the workplace.
Effective RPE can be dangerously compromised by a wide range of changes in the workplace. Ask yourself these questions to discover whether you need to take a fresh look at your RPE strategy:
Have your staff undergone any physical changes?
A good seal is essential for any mask to be effective, and this seal could be compromised very easily, by beard growth or major weight changes. Poorly fitting seals can also cause painful rubbing. Regular face fit checks are essential to maintain a good seal, as well as training to make sure staff know how to adjust their own fit.
Has there been any staff reorganization?
Are any of your workers performing different tasks and have they been protected adequately, or are they making do with other’s equipment?
Have you changed the masks you are using?
With supply and transport issues you may well be using alternative masks. Have these been fitted correctly?
Have your safety exposures changed?
If there are any recent amendments made to core activities, you may need to re-examine protection measures.
Do your staff feel safe?
When did your staff last run through safety procedures? The correct best-practice protocols for fitting, use and procedures for decontamination or recycling may have changed since they were last trained.
Discussing your needs with a technical specialist at Anchor Safety will enable you to take a close look at any changes or issues in your situation with a full, risk-based review. Specialists can ensure that your face fit testing is compliant, aligned with any change in regulation, equipment or risk and that your decontamination procedures are up to date. It might be that you need to look at full head respiratory solutions for example, which rely less on face fit. Integrated full head top respirators, with a choice of head tops, filters, visors and more can offer the perfect combination of protection levels and fit. Or perhaps powered waist mounted options might be preferable where headspace is limited, or necessary for particular hazard types. Our experts can help you decide.
To really protect your staff, make sure that your RPE review goes deeper…
Ensure a reliable supply chain
Respiratory protection was the most impacted category of PPE during the pandemic. Its limited and variable supply prevented many organisations from continuing activities; preventing such breaks in operation is a considerable worry for anyone responsible revising their PPE programme.
Anchor Safety can offer you unbiased advice on mitigating the risks within your supply chain. With adjustments to your product combinations and inventory management you can minimise the risks of future product fluctuations. Additionally, Anchor Safety can offer use of their bespoke purchasing portal to support your RPE programme and make running and monitoring it simple and effective.
Insist on Education and best practice
RPE cannot offer full safety unless it is used properly. The specialists at Anchor Safety’s Technical Team will work with your organisation to create a framework to educate staff: in equipment use, on continually promoting best practice and (in partnership with your maintenance resource) in ensuring your RPE programme remains safe and effective.
Ensuring your RPE programme works optimally is not a one-time only task. But reviewing your protocols and equipment doesn’t have to be as complex or worrying a challenge as you might imagine. With Anchor Safety’s expert advisors ready to help you address every issue you might have, you can start to futureproof your RPE provision with a fully integrated and reliable solution.
Complete Respiratory Protection for Workers with Beards
Our recommended solution for respiratory protection for workers with beards is high-performance respirators that do not require face-fit testing. At Anchor Safety, we have partnered with PureFlo to provide a range of lightweight respirators with integrated head, eye and respiratory protection. Unlike negative pressure respiratory protection, these innovative products eliminate the need for face fit testing by covering the entire head at once.
The PureFlo range includes air-fed respirators, powered air purifying respirators, and particulate respirators (as well as a choice of headtops, filters, and visors). This means we can tailor PureFlo to match end-user requirements, guaranteeing the best possible fit with or without a beard.
Key advantages include:
- A lightweight, all-in-one solution
- No cumbersome waist-mounted blower
- No hoses or risk of snags
- 8-hour battery life to cover an entire shift
In many cases, PureFlo is more cost-effective than endless spending on disposable masks. All the while keeping your people safe with protection that keeps them comfortable – not a policy change that pushes them away.
Spotlight on Pureflo Respirators:
High performance respirators, tailored to your working conditions. Whatever hazards your people are facing, PureFlo respirators guarantee the best fit and the most effective protection.
PureFlo is the highest performing all-in-one respirator on the market. With the battery contained in the headtop, there is no waist mounted power unit, battery and filters or connecting hoses etc - everything is in the helmet.Try the:
PureFlo PF23 Series ESM non-incendive standard build helmet
Product Code: H60-0010
PureFlo PF33 Series ESM non-incendive short duct build helmet
Product Code: H60-0011
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