The importance of body protection in agriculture and farming

Personal protective equipment can be either relatively simple, or slightly complicated. Its intent and purpose is always the same, to provide some level of protection against injury or damage to an individual that could have a serious impact on their well-being.

A lot ofpersonal protective equipment is really common sense, it can be seen in terms of what is needed, whether or not a formal risk assessment is carried out.

Head protection

Agricultural and industrial sites, including construction sites, are notoriously high risk in terms of injuries to someone's head. This is why it is almost always a legal and safety requirement of the employer that people wear what are known as hard hats when working in one of these areas, or even visiting one.

It should be remembered that people working on construction sites have a duty of care to themselves, to other employees, to visitors and to the general public at large. If anyone is thought of as being at risk, then it is important that some level of personal protection is provided.

Head protection is needed in what are known as hard hat areas, and signage should be in place to indicate that this is the case in such an environment.

Head protection is needed both in terms of the risk of bumping one's head on low-lying timber or other building material, as well as providing some level of protection in terms of anything falling from above.

Ear protection

This again is an area where real care needs to be taken in terms of personal protective equipment, and significant damage can be done to an individual's hearing by being exposed to differing levels of noise, often over a period of time.

The damage is not simply by being exposed to the sound of a drill for a day, it is about the potential long-term damage if exposed to machinery noise that is in excess of what someone would hear if you are going about their day in a normal life situation.

The risk to someone's hearing is not always taken as seriously as perhaps it should be, and it should be remembered how vital this type of protection is. Hearing loss is normally always permanent and irreversible, and a condition that should be taken seriously, and proper protective equipment such as earplugs or a year muff is needed.

Proper signage should be in place, and traditional advice in the construction industry says that you need to be able to hear a person standing approximately 3 feet away from you, talking in a normal voice. If you cannot hear that person, then some type of personal protective equipment to protect your hearing is probably needed.

Foot and hand protection

Again much of this is common sense, but quite often in many environments, steel toed shoes or boots will be needed, either because of the nature of the work, such as working with a chainsaw, or the environment itself where sure footing is needed.

Hand protection refers essentially two different types of gloves, often leather, that may be needed when handling certain types of materials that are either quite course by their nature, or could do damage to the hands if there was a spillage, which could be the case in certain types of chemicals being carried.

One general piece of advice regarding effective personal equipment is often given to people working in agriculture or construction is to wear clothes that are either long-sleeved, or long legged.

This is simply to make the point as it is often tending environments that get very hot they quickly to wear clothes that are loose or quite flimsy, because they feel more comfortable. From a safety point of view it is much better to wear clothes that can be buttoned up and provide a type of insulation for the body.

This minimises the possibility of any part of someone's clothing getting caught up in any type of machinery, or in any way putting the individual at some type of risk or harm.