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Employer Payment for Personal Protective Equipment
What
type of PPE is exempt from the employer payment
requirement?
What PPE is
employer payment required?
Is employer
required to pay for PPE replacement?
When will the
employee be required to pay for PPE replacement?
Question:
What type of PPE is exempt from the employer payment
requirement? TOP
Answer:
The following items are exempt from the employer
payment requirement:
- Non-specialty safety-toe protective footwear (e.g., steel-toe
shoes/ boots).
- Non-specialty prescription safety eyewear.
- Sunglasses/sunscreen.
- Sturdy work shoes.
- Lineman's boots.
- Ordinary cold weather gear (coats, parkas, cold weather gloves,
winter boots).
- Logging boots required under Sec. 1910.266(d)(1)(v).
- Ordinary rain gear.
- Back belts.
- Long sleeve shirts.
- Long pants.
- Dust mask/respirators used under the voluntary use provisions in
Sec. 1910.134.
Question: What PPE is employer payment required? TOP
Answer:
The following items require employer payment:
- Metatarsal foot protection.
- Special boots for longshoremen working logs.
- Rubber boots with steel toes.
- Shoe covers--toe caps and metatarsal guards.
- Non-prescription eye protection.
- Prescription eyewear inserts/lenses for full face respirators.
- Prescription eyewear inserts/lenses for welding and diving
helmets.
- Goggles.
- Face shields.
- Laser safety goggles.
- Fire fighting PPE (helmet, gloves, boots, proximity suits, full
gear).
- Hard hat.
- Hearing protection.
- Welding PPE.
- Items used in medical/laboratory settings to protect from exposure
to infectious
agents (Aprons, lab coats, goggles, disposable gloves, shoe
covers, etc).
- Non-specialty gloves: Payment is required if they are PPE, i.e.
for protection from
dermatitis, severe cuts/abrasions. Payment is not
required if they are only for keeping
clean or for cold weather (with no safety or health
consideration).
- Rubber sleeves.
- Aluminized gloves.
- Chemical resistant gloves/aprons/clothing.
- Barrier creams (unless used solely for weather-related
protection).
- Rubber insulating gloves.
- Mesh cut proof gloves, mesh or leather aprons.
- SCBA, atmosphere-supplying respirators (escape only).
- Respiratory protection.
- Fall protection.
- Ladder safety device belts.
- Climbing ensembles used by linemen (e.g., belts and climbing
hooks).
- Window cleaners safety straps.
- Personal flotation devices (life jacket).
- Encapsulating chemical protective suits.
- Reflective work vests.
- Bump caps.
Question: Is employer required to pay for PPE
replacement? TOP
Answer:
Replacing PPE that is no longer functional is crucial
to employee safety and health. OSHA finds that timely
replacement of PPE is more likely to occur when the
employer is responsible for bearing the cost.
OSHA is requiring employers to not only pay for the
initial issuance of PPE, but also its
replacement, except when the employee has lost or
intentionally damaged the PPE.
In the proposed rule, OSHA did not include language in
the regulatory text setting forth an employer's
obligation to pay for replacement PPE. However, in the
preamble to the proposal OSHA stated:
OSHA intends to require employers to pay for the
initial issue of PPE and for replacement PPE that must
be replaced due to normal wear and tear or occasional
loss. Only in the rare case involving an employee who
regularly fails to bring employer-supplied PPE to the
job-site, or who regularly loses the equipment, would
the employer be permitted to require the employee to
pay for replacement PPE (64
FR
15414).
Question: When will the employee be required to pay
for PPE replacement? TOP
Answer:
OSHA also noted that if an employee misuses or damages
the PPE, the employer may ask the employee to pay for
replacement:
1. Clarity Several commenters
raised issues about the clarity of OSHA's position in
the proposed rule on replacement PPE. The majority of
the comments on the issue of employer payment for
replacement PPE asked OSHA to clarify its statements
in the proposal as to when employers would and would
not be required to pay for replacement PPE. The
comments received included a number from employers who
expressed concern that they would be paying for an
endless stream of PPE. These commenters noted the
uncertainty of determining the meaning of "normal wear
and tear" and "occasional loss" in the context of the
wide variety of PPE that is required and used in
various industries.
A number of commenters suggested that OSHA should
strictly define "regular loss" or "occasional loss"
that were used in the preamble to the proposal, in the
final rule by specifying it as two, three, or four
occurrences (See, e.g., Exs. 12: 14, 17, 41, 62, 87,
121, 143, 167, 168, 212, 242). BP-Amoco recommended
that "The particulars of any case of occasional loss
or damage are going to be unique to each case, and the
resolution of who should be responsible to pay is best
left up to the contractual agreement or grievance
procedures in place between the employer and employee
group. For OSHA to attempt to regulate this issue
would require OSHA to define what is occasional loss
and when employee conduct becomes negligent--something
that is not possible or desirable" (Ex. 12: 28).
The Screenprinting & Graphic Imaging Association
International (SGIA) also questioned the meaning of
the term "lost":
For example, an employee is wearing a pair of gloves
while out on the loading dock as a shipment of ink is
delivered. As the employee reaches for the load coming
from the truck, one glove is pulled from the
employee's hand, falls to ground and is blown away by
the wind and cannot be found. In this instance, the
PPE was not damaged, did not show normal wear and
tear, yet requires replacement. The employee was not
negligent, but the PPE is lost, and the employer
should be responsible to pay for the replacement.
If the same employee, however, were to have placed the
gloves down on a table, walked off, then came back to
find them missing, this can be seen as neglect and the
employee pays for the replacement. Although
these two examples are open for discussion, it shows
that each worksite needs to make specific policies for
what will constitute a lost item, and how to safe
guard against abuse and
negligence (Ex. 12-116, p. 2).
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