Importance of PPE for women in health and safety

Many people think of PPE as being mainly hard hats, gloves and boots however PPE encompasses a wide range of equipment and clothing including overalls, knee pads, high visibility clothing and eye/ear protection amongst other items. For women working within environments where they need to wear PPE to protect themselves, there has been long term debates over the suitability of some forms of protective equipment for them.

It may be unsurprising to read that most PPE is based on the characteristics and sizing of European and American males, so what does this mean for most women?

Why is this an issue?

Due to most PPE being designed around a specific male body type, there are fundamental flaws when it comes to protecting female employees. For example:

Respiratory Protective Equipment