The final kind of effective method of control is what’s considered the use of personal protective equipment or PPE.
So an example of that would be say you’re in a dusty environment instead of installing a ventilation system, you say okay we’re just going to put a filtering face-respirator on the people who work in this environment. In those examples you’re really relying on the effectiveness of the PPE and also the training that you provide the workers to use the PPE appropriately. A couple of things have to also be included for PPE to work well.
If you’re working in a noisy environment, one of the first things somebody may think of when they think about protecting the worker is to give them hearing protection, and that’s a solution, but it may not be the most effective solution and it’s not effective.
This is because it relies on the worker wearing the hearing protection and also wearing them properly. A solution that eliminates the source of noise is much more effective in controlling the hazards or protecting our workers.