Changes to Health & Safety Legislation don’t happen very often, especially those, which are laid before Parliament.
It has in fact been 30 years since the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 were released. The Personal Protective Equipment at Work (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (PPER 2022) were laid before Parliament on January 10th 2022 and come into force on April 6th 2022, amending the original 1992 Regulations (PPER 1992).
What PPE is
PPE is defined in the PPER 1992 as ‘all equipment (including clothing affording protection against the weather) which is intended to be worn or held by a person at work and which protects the person against one or more risks to that person’s health or safety, and any addition or accessory designed to meet that objective’.
Where an employer finds PPE to be necessary after a risk assessment, using the hierarchy of controls explained below, they have a duty to provide it free of charge.
Hierarchy of controls
PPE should be regarded as the last resort to protect against risks to health and safety. Engineering controls and safe systems of work should be considered first.
Consider controls in the following order, with elimination being the most effective and PPE being the least effective:
- Elimination – physically remove the hazard
- Substitution – replace the hazard
- Engineering controls – isolate people from the hazard
- Administrative controls – change the way people work
- PPE – protect the worker with personal protective equipment
Employers with both employees and limb (b) workers
By 6 April 2022, you need to ensure that there is no difference in the way PPE is provided to your workers, as defined by PPER 2022. This means assessing the risk and ensuring suitable PPE is provided, when needed, to all people that fall under the definition of worker.
Under PPER 2022, the types of duties and responsibilities on employers and employees already in place under PPER 1992 will remain, however, they will extend to limb (b) workers, as defined in PPER 2022.
- Limb (b) describes workers who generally have a more casual employment relationship and work under a contract for service – they do not currently come under the scope of PPER 1992
Generally, workers who come under limb (b):
- carry out casual or irregular work for one or more organisations
- only carry out work if they choose to
- are not in business for themselves (they do not advertise services directly to customers who can then also book their services directly)
PPER 1992 places a duty on every employer in the UK to ensure that suitable PPE is provided to ‘employees’ who may be exposed to a risk to their health or safety whilst at work. If PPE is required, employers must ensure their workers have sufficient information, instruction and training on the use of PPE.
If a risk assessment indicates that a limb (b) worker requires PPE to carry out their work activities, the employer must carry out a PPE suitability assessment and provide the PPE free of charge as they do for employees.
A limb (b) worker will have the duty to use the PPE in accordance with their training and instruction, and ensure it is returned to the storage area provided by their employer (If applicable).
The employer will be responsible for the maintenance, storage and replacement of any PPE they provide. If the PPE provided to a limb worker is lost or becomes defective, they are duty-bound to report it to their employer.
A 'limb (b) worker' can also be understood as a 'dependent contractor'. A 'worker' is registered as self-employed but provides a service as part of someone else's business. They generally must carry out the work personally, rather than being able to send someone in their place.
