Problems of using personal protective equipment in modern conditions

The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is one of the ways to preserve the health of employees in adverse working conditions. PPE remains one of the key tools for minimizing the impact of harmful and dangerous factors. Scientists create and use PPE to reduce accidents, serious injuries, poisoning, the likelihood of developing professionally caused, occupational diseases that often remain undetected. It is important to use PPE efficiently by employees of various industries. The effectiveness of their use in the workplace largely depends on the right choice, the employer's awareness of the risks, training in ways to check the serviceability, correct use, control. The lack of training or its insufficiency leads to inevitable mistakes in the selection and application of PPE. Unfortunately, not all existing PPE are effective enough, because they are not always of proper quality, are not individually selected, and are not able to give warning signals about the presence of danger. Employees should take into account that PPE can create: harmful and sometimes dangerous inconveniences for health; a false sense of security in case of improper use, loss of efficiency in case of incorrect storage or maintenance; complicate working conditions. The correct use of PPE depends on the behavior of the worker. It is advisable to take into account the nature of labor operations and the severity of the work performed; the protective properties of PPE, depending on the type and quality of materials used for their manufacture; product design. Competent selection of PPE, compliance with the terms of their operation can reduce professional risks. To date, specialists have developed modern "smart" PPE, as well as intelligent systems to improve the efficiency of existing PPE.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interests. The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Received: 03.04.2023 / Accepted: 21.04.2023 / Published: 05.05.2023

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