Update Your PPE

The beginning of the season is a good time to update any personal protective equipment (PPE) that has become worn or damaged during the past year. Old, tattered or dirty PPE loses its effectiveness and can put a person at risk of injury.

High-Visibility Safety Apparel

  • If you’ve worn hi-vis clothing for more than six months, inspect it for effectiveness.
  • Replace hi-vis apparel when it’s torn, cracked or the background material has become faded or dirty.
  • Ensure your high-visibility apparel meets ANSI/ISEA 107-2020 Type R (Roadway) Class 2 or 3 standards.

Hard Hat

  • Hard hat manufacturers recommend replacement every five years.
  • Ensure your hard hat meets the ANSI Z89.1 requirement.
  • At a minimum, your hard hat should be a Type I, Class G (General) Hard Hat.
  • Inspect your hard hat for cracks or other damage.
  • If your hard hat has accumulated an abundance of stickers from projects or training, these stickers can hide cracks or other damage. Replace your hard hat and start a new sticker collection.
  • Monitor your hard hat for deterioration from exposure to UV rays (sun) and chemicals (asphalt or concrete).

Eye Protection

  • If your safety glasses are past their useful life, it’s time to replace them. Like your hard hat, your safety glasses can break down due to exposure and reduce the protection they provide.
  • Scratched or damaged eye protection is difficult to see through and can put a person at risk.
  • Make sure your eye protection fits properly and provides good visibility. Poorly fitted eye protection is potentially ineffective against hazards and makes it difficult to see correctly.
  • Ensure your safety glasses meet the ANSI Z87.1-2015 requirement. Typically, this information is located on the temple of the eye wear.

Download a printable PDF and recording form here.

Hard Hat Inspection & Maintenance

Hard hat manufacturers recommend that hard hats be replaced every five years, regardless of appearance, as performance decreases after that period. You should replace the suspension inside the hard hat every year.

Routinely inspect the Hard Hat Shell for:

  • Cracks.
  • Nicks.
  • Dents.
  • Gouges.
  • Damage caused by impact, penetration or abrasions.
  • Stiffness.
  • Brittleness.
  • Fading or chalky appearance.

Replace Your Hard Hat More Frequently if It’s Regularly Exposed to:

  • Sunlight.
  • Ultraviolet rays (welding).
  • Chemicals.
  • Temperature extremes.
  • Forcible blows.

Modification Dos & Don’ts

  • Limit the use of stickers. They can hide cracks or other damage to the hard hat.
  • Don’t modify the shell or suspension.
  • Don’t drill ventilation holes in the shell.
  • Never use a suspension that’s not intended for use in your hard hat shell.
  • Don’t carry or wear anything inside of your hard hat between the suspension and the shell.
  • Hard hats must have the reverse orientation (worn backwards) arrow on the inside of the hard hat to be worn backwards. The reverse orientation performance mark specifies the hard hat meets the reverse donning standards stated in ANSIZ89.1 or CSAZ94.1
  • If the shell is damaged, replace the hard hat immediately!

The hard hat is one of the oldest, most widely used and most important pieces of personal protective equipment on the job. Take care of it. Don’t misuse it. It may save your life.

Download a printable PDF and recording form here.

Replacement of ANSI High-Visibility Vests & Clothing

High-visibility safety apparel is personal protective safety clothing that is meant to make you more visible (conspicuous) during both daytime and nighttime use. High-visibility clothing is important because it gives the motorist a visual indication there is a person on or near their travel path, where under normal driving conditions people would not be on or near the roadway.

High-visibility vests and clothing must meet the Performance Class 2 or 3 requirements of American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/ International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) 107-2004.

All workers within the right-of-way of a federal-aid highway who are exposed either to traffic, or to construction equipment within the work area, shall wear high-visibility safety apparel.

Workers Affected by This Requirement Include:

  • Highway construction and maintenance crews.
  • Flaggers.
  • Inspectors.
  • Engineering personnel.
  • Survey crews.
  • Utility crews.
  • Responders.

When Should High-Visibility Safety Apparel Be Replaced?

Your high-visibility safety vest and clothing should be replaced when it becomes faded, torn, dirty, soiled, worn or defaced, or if it is not visible at 1,000 feet, day or night. The typical useful service life of high-visibility safety clothing depends on the type of work a person does while wearing the clothing. High-visibility clothing that is worn daily has a typical service life of approximately six months.

Reasons that may cause your vest to wear out more quickly, depending on the amount of use, include:

  • Job task that are dirtier or more demanding and could be more likely to lead to soiling or tears.
  • Hotter climates.
  • Repeated exposure to ultra-violet rays.

Download a printable PDF and recording form here.

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