| Dust and harmful gases can cause immediate and long-term respiratory problems. Wearing protective equipment is vitally important when working in a situation where there is the potential for respiratory hazard: - working in dusty buildings or fields
- entering silos or manure pits
- handling moldy hay
- applying pesticides or fertilizers
Depending on the specific hazard, failing to wear the proper respirator, or wearing it improperly, can result in health effects ranging from temporary discomfort to long-term lung problems and even death. | Wearing the appropriate type of respirator is key when facing airborne hazards. A respirator is any device designed to provide protection against the inhalation of a potentially hazardous contaminant. The following steps are essential: select a respirator type that has been approved for the specific respiratory hazard involved choose a style that fits the user properly carefully read and follow all manufacturer instructions for the respirator's use and maintenance. At Safety Equipment Company we can help you choose the right equipment for your situation. Call us today at 417-862-2238 for more information. Listed below are a few of the manufacturer product lines we carry.
(self-contained, supplied air, disposable, cartridge and canister) |
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 | Your employees deserve the best hearing protection, period. Wear hearing protectors, especially if you must work in an excessively noisy environment. You should also wear them when using power tools, noisy equipment, or firearms, and many other on the job environments. Safety Equipment Company is proud to present hearing protection from such brands as Howard Leight, Moldex, Radians, and North.Our most popular forms of protection are ear plugs and earmuffs.
Earplugs are small inserts that fit into the outer ear canal. They must be sealed snugly so the entire circumference of the ear canal is blocked. An improperly fitted, dirty, or worn-out plug may not seal properly and can result in irritation of the ear canal. Plugs are available in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit individual ear canals and can be custom-made. For people who have trouble keeping them in their ears, the plugs can be fitted to a headband.
| Earmuffs fit over the entire outer ear to form an air seal so the entire circumference of the ear canal is blocked, and they are held in place by an adjustable band. Earmuffs will not seal around eyeglasses or long hair, and the adjustable headband tension must be sufficient to hold earmuffs firmly in place. Call us today at 417-862-2238 for more information. Listed below are a few of the manufacturer product lines we carry. |
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| Hand and arm protection is required when the risk of injury from cuts/punctures, burns, chemicals, electrical shock, human blood or body fluids, or abrasive material cannot be engineered out of the workplace. There is not a single type of glove that will provide adequate protection from all exposures. Follow the manufacturer's recommendation for type hazard each type glove will protect against.
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Questionnaire | Hazardous Activities | Protection | | Do hands come in contact with tools or materials that might scrape, bruise, or cut? | Grinding, sanding, sawing, hammering, material handling, meat cutting, glazier | Metal mesh, leather, canvas, kevlor material, cloth | | Are chemicals, blood or other body fluids handled that may contact skin? | Pouring, mixing, painting, cleaning, siphoning, dip tank operations, health care and dental services | Call us for details, chemical and liquid resistant gloves may be overgloves | | Do work procedures require hands and arms near extreme heat or cold? | Welding, pouring molten metal, smithing, baking, cooking, drying, handling cryogenic material | Leather, aluminized, aramid fiber | | Are hands or arms placed near exposed electrical wiring or components? | Building maintenance, utility work, construction, wiring, work on or near communications computers | Electrical insulating rubber gloves see manufacturer's instruction and specifications |
Q. Why hand and arm protection is necessary:
A. Protection is required when a work activity may present an exposure to the employee from skin absorption of a harmful substance, extreme heat or cold, burn, cut, puncture, or abrasion. Different gloves must be provided for each type of exposure. Durable work gloves made of metal mesh, coated fabric material or other mesh material may be used for cut resistance. Leather, canvas or other cloth material may be used for protection against abrasions or heat. Chemical and liquid resistant gloves must be referenced from manufacturer's information. A chart is provided with this checklist but consult with the manufacturer for service life, and disposal requirements.
Q. How to identify signs of wear for replacement:
A. Gloves that are torn, split or otherwise damaged may not be worn. Loose gloves may not be worn around moving machinery or where there is a possibility of getting a glove caught in moving equipment. Gloves that have become discolored may be past their useful life. Consult the manufacturer's specification and instructions for replacement of gloves.
Q. How to clean, disinfect, dispose of gloves and sleeves:
A. Follow the manufacturer's recommendation for cleaning, inspecting, and storing gloves or sleeves. For gloves that have been in contact with hazardous chemicals, pesticides, body fluids or other contaminates consult your hazardous waste disposal plan or contact Hazardous Materials Management for information regarding disposal. Call us today at 417-862-2238 for more information. Listed below are a few of the manufacturer product lines we carry. |
| The purpose of protective clothing and equipment is to shield or isolate individuals from the chemical, physical, and biological hazards that may be encountered during operations. It is not always apparent when exposure occurs. Many chemicals pose invisible hazards and offer no warning.
It is important that protective clothing users realize that no single combination of protective equipment and clothing is capable of protecting you against all hazards. Thus protective clothing should be used in conjunction with other protective methods. For example, engineering or administrative controls to limit chemical contact with personnel should always be considered as an alternative measure for preventing chemical exposure. The use of protective clothing can itself create significant wearer hazards, such as heat stress, physical and psychological stress, in addition to impaired vision, mobility, and communication. In general, the greater the level of chemical protective clothing, the greater the associated risks. For any given situation, equipment and clothing should be selected that provide an adequate level of protection. Over protection as well as under-protection can be hazardous and should be avoided.g properties.
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A protective suit is an umbrella term for any suit or clothing which protects the wearer. Any specific design of suit may offer protection against biological and chemical chemical agents, particle radiation (alpha) and/or radiation (delta and gamma), and may offer flash protection in the case of bomb disposal suits. Most forms of industrial clothing are protective clothing. Personal protective equipment includes:
- Boilersuit
- NBC suit
- Hazmat suit
- Bomb disposal suits
- Fire proximity suit
- Splash suit, to protect against splashing chemicals
- Wetsuit and drysuit
- Immersion suit
- Zip-off Convertible Ventilated Trousers:
- Apron (protects the body and other clothing from dirt)
- Protective vest
- Sun protective clothing
- and more...
Call us today at 417-862-2238 for more information. Listed below are a few of the manufacturer product lines we carry. |
 | There are five aspects of ergonomics: safety, comfort, ease of use, productivity/performance, and aesthetics. Based on these aspects of ergonomics, examples are given of how products or systems could benefit from redesign based on ergonomic principles. - Safety - Medicine bottles: The print on them could be larger so that a sick person who may have impaired vision (due to sinuses, etc.) can more easily see the dosages and label. Ergonomics could design the print style, color and size for optimal viewing.
- Comfort - Alarm clock display: Some displays are harshly bright, drawing one’s eye to the light when surroundings are dark. Ergonomic principles could redesign this based on contrast principles.
- Ease of use - Street Signs: In a strange area, many times it is difficult to spot street signs. This could be addressed with the principles of visual detection in ergonomics.
- Productivity/performance - HD TV: The sound on HD TV is much lower than regular TV. So when you switch from HD to regular, the volume increases dramatically. Ergonomics recognizes that this difference in decibel level creates a difference in loudness and hurts human ears and this could be solved by evening out the decibel levels. Voicemail instructions: It takes too long to have to listen to all of the obvious instructions. Ergonomics could address this by providing more options to the user, enabling them to easily and quickly skip the instructions.
- Aesthetics - Signs in the workplace: Signage should be made consistent throughout the workplace to not only be aesthetically pleasing, but also so that information is easily accessible.
Outside of the discipline itself, the term 'ergonomics' is generally used to refer to physical ergonomics as it relates to the workplace (as in for example ergonomic chairs and keyboards). Ergonomics in the workplace has to do largely with the safety of employees, both long and short-term. Ergonomics can help reduce costs by improving safety. This would decrease the money paid out in workers’ compensation. For example, over five million workers sustain over extension injuries per year. Through ergonomics, workplaces can be designed so that workers do not have to overextend themselves and the manufacturing industry could save billions in workers’ compensation.
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Workplaces may either take the reactive or proactive approach when applying ergonomics practices. Reactive ergonomics is when something needs to be fixed, and corrective action is taken. Proactive ergonomics is the process of seeking areas that could be improved and fixing the issues before they become a large problem. Problems may be fixed through equipment design or task design. Equipment design changes the actual, physical devices used by people. Task design changes what people do with the equipment. Environmental design changes the environment in which people work, but not the physical equipment they use.
Call us today at 417-862-2238 for more information. Listed below are a few of the manufacturer product lines we carry. |
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