When do employers have to provide and pay for safety workwear for Perth employees?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) require that employers protect their employees from workplace hazards that can cause injury or illness. Controlling a hazard at its source is the best way to protect workers, however there are times when this is not feasible. When engineering, work practice and administrative controls do not provide enough protection, employers must provide safety workwear for their Perth employees, and ensure that it is used correctly.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is worn to minimise exposure to a variety of hazards. Examples of safety workwear that may be provided and paid for by employers include:

• Metatarsal foot protection
• Rubber boots with steel toes
• Non-prescription eye protection
• Prescription eyewear inserts/lenses for full-face respirators
• Goggles and face shields
• Fire-fighting PPE (helmet, gloves, boots, proximity suits)
• Hard hats
• Hearing protection
• Welding PPE.

As of 2008, a new OSHA rule about employer payment of PPE went into effect. With few exceptions, OSHA now requires employers to pay for personal protective equipment used to comply with OSHA standards.

The exceptions where employers are not required to pay for some PPE exist in certain circumstances:

• Everyday clothing, such as long-sleeve shirts, long pants, street shoes and normal work boots
• Items such as hair nets and gloves worn by food workers for consumer safety
• Ordinary clothing, skin creams or other items, used solely for protection from weather. Examples include winter coats, jackets, gloves, parkas, rubber boots, hats, ordinary sunglasses and sunscreen
• Non-specialty safety-toe protective footwear (including steel-toe shoes or boots) and non-specialty prescription safety eyewear provided that the employer permits such items to be worn off the job site
• Lifting belts because there are doubts about their value in protecting the back
• When the employee has lost or intentionally damaged the safety workwear it must be replaced.

For all your safety workwear requirements in Perth, contact us at Herseys Safety – preferred choice when workplace safety is the primary concern.