PPE selector
Tick the tasks and hazards your work involves and get a consolidated PPE schedule — each item with its BS EN standard and the hazards that triggered it — ready to drop into your RAMS. PPE is the last resort, so this assumes your higher-order controls are already in place.
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What does the task involve?
Tick every task or hazard that applies. The schedule on the right specifies the PPE — with the relevant BS EN standard — for the risks that remain after your higher-order controls.
PPE is the last resort — start higher up the hierarchy of control
The law requires you to control risk in a set order, and personal protective equipment sits at the very bottom of it. Before you specify any PPE you should have worked through:
- Elimination — design the hazard out or do the job a different way.
- Substitution — swap a dangerous material, tool or method for a safer one.
- Engineering controls — guard, enclose, extract, suppress, or isolate people from the hazard (on-tool extraction, water suppression, LEV, edge protection).
- Administrative controls — permits, training, supervision, job rotation, exclusion zones, safe systems of work.
- PPE — only for the risk that remains after all of the above.
PPE is least effective because it does nothing to remove the hazard, it protects only the person wearing it, and it relies entirely on being selected, fitted, worn and maintained correctly. That is why this tool leads every schedule with a reminder, and why several items carry an explicit “not a substitute for” line — an FFP3 mask, for instance, is not a substitute for dust extraction or water suppression.
Employers must provide PPE free of charge — now including limb (b) workers
Where a risk assessment shows PPE is needed, the employer must provide it free of charge. Since 6 April 2022 the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 2022 (PPER 2022) extended this duty beyond employees to so-called limb (b) workers — many casual, agency and CIS sub-contract workers who are not employees but carry out work personally. In practice that means the same standard of protection, free provision, and information, instruction and training must reach these workers too.
Face-fit testing for tight-fitting RPE is not optional
Tight-fitting respiratory protection — disposable FFP3 masks (BS EN 149) and reusable half/full masks — only works if it seals to the individual's face. Each wearer must be face-fit tested before first use, must be clean-shaven at the seal, and must be retested if their face changes. Powered or supplied-air hoods can be an alternative where face-fit cannot be achieved. For confined spaces or oxygen-deficient atmospheres, filtering RPE is not enough — supplied-air or self-contained breathing apparatus is required.
Specify the standard, not just the item
“Wear PPE” means nothing to an operative or an auditor. A RAMS should name the performance standard for each item so there is no ambiguity. The common current standards are:
| PPE | Standard | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Head | BS EN 397 (industrial); BS EN 12492 at height | Chin strap / retained type for work at height. |
| Eye | BS EN 166 (grade per task) | Grade B impact for grinding; 3 for liquid splash; dust marking for fine dust. |
| Welding eye/face | BS EN 175 + BS EN 169 filters (EN 379 auto-darkening) | Correct shade for process and current; screen the area for others. |
| Hearing | BS EN 352 | Match attenuation to measured noise; avoid over-protection. |
| Gloves — mechanical | BS EN 388 (state the cut level) | Never near rotating tools. |
| Gloves — chemical | BS EN 374 (material per substance) | Check SDS for material and breakthrough time. |
| Gloves — heat/welding | BS EN 407 / BS EN 12477 | Gauntlet style for spatter. |
| Footwear | BS EN ISO 20345 (e.g. S3, S5) | S3 general site; S5 waterproof for wet trades. |
| High-visibility | BS EN ISO 20471 (Class 1/2/3) | Class 3 near roads / fast plant. |
| RPE — dust | BS EN 149 FFP3 / P3 (BS EN 14387) | Face-fit required; for silica/wood dust. |
| Fall arrest | Harness BS EN 361; lanyard BS EN 354 + EN 355 | Anchor, clearance, training and rescue plan. |
| Flame-resistant clothing | BS EN ISO 11611 (welding) / BS EN ISO 11612 | No meltable synthetics; cover exposed skin. |
Use this as a starting point
The schedule this tool produces is a competent starting specification, not a finished assessment. Grades, cut levels, filter types and classes must be confirmed against the actual task, the COSHH assessment and the manufacturers' data by a competent person before the RAMS is issued.
Source: HSE guidance on personal protective equipment and the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 2022 (hse.gov.uk/ppe).
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