What do the health and safety signs mean?

Health and safety signs are used to create a simple safety system. These signs provide the shortest possible information about potential hazards in the workplace. Health and Safety signs are a combination of a shape, color, symbol or pictogram. Some regulatory signs also contain text which is complementary. In general, health and safety signs are divided into the following types: prohibition signs, information signs, warning signs and mandatory signs. We will be particularly interested in the latter, as they concern personal protective equipment. They include, among others various types of helmets and safety glasses that are necessary not only on the construction site.

What are health and safety signs?

Occupational health and safety signs are intended to inform employees about the need to perform certain actions. We mean here, among other things, the requirement to use eye protection, wash hands, or connect to the ground. The requirement to use personal protective equipment is equally important. Mandatory signs are circular in shape and positioned against a blue background. The white pictogram shows the action to be performed.

What are personal protective equipment?

Personal equipment includes any equipment whose purpose is to protect: legs, hands, head, face, eyes, respiratory tract and hearing. We can also mention here such personal protective equipment, the task of which is to protect the employee in the event of a fall from a height. The employee is not entitled to perform official duties without appropriate personal protective equipment. Each workplace requires slightly different equipment. It must, of course, be adapted to it. The employer is obliged to provide each employee with personal protective equipment free of charge. Personal protective equipment must be used in accordance with its intended purpose in order to fulfill its function. Manufacturers very often mention not only how a given helmet should be used, but also how to maintain it so that it has the longest service life. Personal protective equipment includes, among others: a construction helmet, a protective helmet, earplugs, safety goggles, safety glasses, a protective helmet, shoes with a toe cap. You can easily find all these personal protective equipment in our Baltic BHP online store.

How to protect your head while working?

For effective protection against head injuries, there are: protective helmets, protective helmets, caps, caps. All PPE listed here protect employees not only against mechanical damage, but also against cold and dirt. Such a function is fulfilled, for example, by a construction helmet. How to protect eyes and face against injuries? For this purpose, you should equip your employees with safety goggles, safety glasses and face shields. They are used to protect the eyes and face of the employee, inter alia, against splashes of metals, plastics, wood, laser rays or chemicals. It is worth adjusting personal protective equipment to the potential risk for the employee. How, in turn, to ensure employees' hearing? Various types of earmuffs are used for this purpose. We can mention, among others: noise-reducing earplugs, ear muffs and noise-reducing helmets. Their function is to protect the worker from hearing loss. At the very end, we still have work shoes to discuss. Shoes with a toe cap and work shoes with a sheet are very popular, as they protect the feet well against mechanical damage. Their advantage is undoubtedly the comfort of wearing for many hours.