Personal Protective Equipment
Every year first responders become ill, are injured or even killed
when they enter a crime or trauma scene without proper Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE). Read on to learn more about the best ways
to protect yourself and your employees while on-scene.
Things to look for in personal protective equipment and policies:
- Do the suits and protective gowns pass the ASTM 1670/71 tests for
both the material and the garment as a whole?
- Are the gloves at least 13mil thick?
- Is there proper respiratory protection? Have the masks been fit
tested and users trained on correct usage?
- When using a full-face respirator, do the cartridges meet all of the
criteria for OSHA and NIOSH compliancy?
- Has training been provided explaining how to properly don and doff
their PPE in a manner that prevents exposure and cross contamination?
- Is there a plan to properly and legally dispose of used PPE?
- Has bloodborne pathogen training been implemented?
