# PPE (personal protective equipment)



## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

FR rated sandals and a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses.


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

MDShunk said:


> FR rated sandals and a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses.


no sunblock ?


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## magneticpersona (Apr 28, 2012)

I use fingerless gloves for the 3 main fingers, which has prevented me drilling, cutting or seperating my digits from my hands many times. Still got a few scars.

I always wear safety glasses when im working with my hands above my head because ive had to get my eye scrapped twice for stuff that fell in them.

If you do a lot of attic or crawl space work, make sure you wear the best respirator mask money can buy and long sleeve shirts.

steel toe boots if im working outside in the mud or dirt, and if there is a lot of dangerous things on the ground i could step on or kick around.

all of the above is if you aren't working on a nazi police work site that requires hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, steel toe boots, and safety vest,* at all times!!*


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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

steel toes, hard hat, safety glasses, nomex vest, 8.something rated FRC *At all times*, then you get into specialized PPE - gloves, 1000vac gloves, 20000vac gloves, life jacket for the boat rides, fall protection, and sometimes a faceshield


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## mbednarik (Oct 10, 2011)

always safety glasses and leather boots. Use all tools as their intended duty. gloves if you can stand them.


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## Control Freak (Mar 8, 2008)

Working downtown at Ground Zero is crazy like that too. I'm not working down there but I take the train in with a few friends and they say it is insane down there with security and safety.

Guys can't even get copies of prints to hand out to the lead men. Every set of prints is numbered and accounted for so as not to cause a security breach!


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

nolabama said:


> steel toes, hard hat, safety glasses, nomex vest, 8.something rated FRC *At all times*, then you get into specialized PPE - gloves, 1000vac gloves, 20000vac gloves, life jacket for the boat rides, fall protection, and sometimes a faceshield


 And every one in a blue moon, you will find yourself standing their with sweat dripping from every pore in some god-awful dismal hole-in-the-ground, wearing every single piece of that PPE at the same damn time, wondering _What the F am I doing?! _and wishing like hell you'd paid more attention in highschool.

-John


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## CanadianBrad (Feb 9, 2012)

On our primary jobsite, we are required to wear high-visibility FR coveralls, steel-toed boots, hard hats, and safety glasses at all times. I've gone out and got my own prescription safety glasses because I hated wearing those big ones over my glasses. I'm also going to pick up my own hard hat because the ones we pick up from the supply warehouse on-site don't fit me nicely. I picked up my own gloves, some Fast-Fit Mechanix gloves, that I carry in my back pocket. I just found that the heavy-duty leather work gloves my boss offers are impossible to work in, and the little latex gloves we've got make my hands sweat. I've also got a pair of insulated lineman's gloves(never used them as a first-year apprentice), a face shield for use when grinding, a fall arrest harness/lanyard, and various other seldom-used pieces of kit.

The only thing that my boss expected me to provide is my boots. Our coveralls come through laundry service, and I elected to pick up new safety glasses to fit my prescription needs. Your employer should provide proper PPE for most applications, and I imagine there's actually a huge liability issue if you start providing some of your own other stuff. If you provide your own fall harness, and it's been mistreated, and it fails in a fall, I wouldn't be surprised if your boss can throw his hands in the air and say "He used his own harness, it wasn't inspected/maintained properly by him, and because it's his personal property, I assume no liability for it."

There's all kinds of different PPE, used by all kinds of different electricians. It might be more helpful if you outline the kind of work that you'll be doing(residential, commercial, industrial, construction, service/maintenance, etc.), and for what kind of outfit(large electrical contractor, large manufacturing firm, mom-and-pop shop, etc.), so that guys can tell you what you'll reasonably be expected to use regularly, and what you may be expected to provide.

I'll also suggest to the mods that this one be jumped over to Safety Topics.

Hope that helps, rename. Welcome to the site.


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## rename2004 (May 12, 2012)

*Ppe*

thanks for the additional information to all of you guys...


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Big John said:


> _What the F am I doing?! _


I always have those moments any time anything involves a SCBA or any chemical saftey related.

Part of that is because wearing a gortex suit in 120 degree heat kinda sucks ass :laughing: We try to avoid anything that makes us go in the contaminate walls at any of the chemical plants we serve cause of that during the summer.


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## rename2004 (May 12, 2012)

I am working as equipment maintenance technician in industrial plant.


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## 76nemo (Aug 13, 2008)

rename2004 said:


> I am working as equipment maintenance technician in industrial plant.


That still doesn't give us squat for information........

What does your job entail?


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## CanadianBrad (Feb 9, 2012)

rename2004 said:


> I am working as equipment maintenance technician in industrial plant.


While that's still pretty vague, chances are in an environment like that, your employer will provide most of your PPE. Get yourself some good comfy steel-toed boots, and if you wear prescription glasses, I strongly recommend looking into a pair of prescription safety glasses, which your employer will not be expected to provide. Stuff like hard hats, regular safety glasses, cheapie ear plugs, fall harnesses, and all that should be provided by the site.

One of the only things that I would suggest to every maintenance individual to provide on their own, regardless of trade or experience, is their own lockout/tagout stuff. It's always interesting when you've locked something out with a company lock, and someone removes your lock _while you're working on it_. A local guy here had a pretty good chance of losing his head in a big refrigeration evaporator fan that he'd locked out, when another guy, thinking he'd forgotten to unlock it when he worked on it last time, removed the lock and started the fan. Luckily, the guy doing the work was off having coffee.

I bought my own keyed padlocks, tags, and breaker locks for that reason. I leave a spare key for my locks under my coffee mug at the lunch table, but I'm the only guy with a key for them under any normal circumstances. Someone will have to take bolt cutters to get my lock off of something, and I'll raise hell if that ever happens.

So if I had to recommend 1 thing safety-related to go out and buy, it would be a string of 4-6 safety locks with tagout tags. A couple of breaker locks and lock scissors are worth having as well. In my pouch, I carry 4 locks, 4 tags, 2 breaker locks, and 2 lock scissors at any given time.


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## rename2004 (May 12, 2012)

thank you canadian brad and to all...for a very good advice...it will help me a lot..
god bless to all!


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

CanadianBrad said:


> While that's still pretty vague, chances are in an environment like that, your employer will provide most of your PPE. Get yourself some good comfy steel-toed boots, and if you wear prescription glasses, I strongly recommend looking into a pair of prescription safety glasses, which your employer will not be expected to provide. Stuff like hard hats, regular safety glasses, cheapie ear plugs, fall harnesses, and all that should be provided by the site.
> 
> One of the only things that I would suggest to every maintenance individual to provide on their own, regardless of trade or experience, is their own lockout/tagout stuff. It's always interesting when you've locked something out with a company lock, and someone removes your lock _while you're working on it_. A local guy here had a pretty good chance of losing his head in a big refrigeration evaporator fan that he'd locked out, when another guy, thinking he'd forgotten to unlock it when he worked on it last time, removed the lock and started the fan. Luckily, the guy doing the work was off having coffee.
> 
> ...



I don't think you're supposed to have a spare key


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

sparky970 said:


> I don't think you're supposed to have a spare key


That's actually an old wive's tale. There is no specific prohibition against having a spare key, or even using a combination lock. It's company policies that may prohibit the existence of a spare key. The so-called, "one lock, one key" rule does not exist in any OSHA regulation.


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## Toto (Jul 27, 2011)

*Ppe*

Safety glasses, breathing protection, gloves (when necessary), bright colors (when necessary), don't forget ear protection. I don't like the idea of having actual steel in my boots but there are other materials available. Also no metal jewelry. Look on line if you want to see what happens when electricity meets gold jewelry (graphic). Mainly, though, just learn to make a name for yourself by thinking jobs out and putting safety and quality first. Don't worry about being super fast just worry about keeping your work super clean and safe. Put quality first. This is what holds most people back from becoming good electricians.


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