PPE
Short for Personal Protective Equipment
Protective clothing, helmets, gloves, and equipment designed to protect workers from workplace hazards. Required by OSHA and most regulators.
Definition
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) includes any wearable item designed to protect workers from injury or infection — hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, respirators, hearing protection, high-visibility vests, chemical-resistant clothing, and more. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.132 requires employers to conduct a hazard assessment, provide appropriate PPE, train workers on its use, and maintain documentation of the hazard assessment and training. Different industries have sector-specific requirements — bloodborne pathogens (1910.1030), respiratory protection (1910.134), hearing conservation (1910.95), etc.
Why it matters
PPE-related violations are among OSHA's most commonly cited. But the violations are usually documentation failures, not absent equipment: the hazard assessment wasn't written down, the training wasn't logged, or the SOP doesn't specify PPE requirements for a task. A strong PPE SOP embeds the OSHA-required hazard assessment, specifies required PPE for each task, and includes acknowledgement that the operator has been trained.