• Employers must provide training to their employees on who is required to use PPE, how to use it, and how to care for it.
• Required PPE must be provided by the employer with no cost to employees, with certain exceptions.

The first step that employers must take to determine what exposures warrant PPE is to do a hazard assessment of the workplace. Although doing a hazard assessment is not a specific and recordable requirement for Construction (as it is for General Industry), it is an excellent way to identify jobsite hazards and provide the appropriate PPE.

Employers are required to train employees who must use PPE. Employees must be trained to know at least the following:

• When PPE is necessary.
• What PPE is necessary.
• How to properly put on, take off, adjust and wear the PPE.
• The limitations of the PPE.
• Proper care, maintenance, useful life, and disposal of PPE.

Employers should make sure that each employee demonstrates an understanding of the PPE training as well as the ability to properly wear and use PPE before they are allowed to perform work requiring the use of the PPE.

Payment for personal protective equipment

The employer is responsible to provide and pay for any personal protective equipment that is required in order to comply with one of the PPE requirements in the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA)’s standards. If the PPE is not required, then the employer doesn’t have to pay for it. When an employer selects a specific type of PPE to be used at the workplace to comply with a standard, the employer is required to pay for it.

OSHA also says that the employer is not required to pay for non-specialty safety-toe protective footwear (including steel-toe shoes or steel-toe boots) and non-specialty prescription safety eyewear, provided that the employer permits these items to be worn off the jobsite.

If the employer requires employees to keep non-specialty safety-toe protective footwear and non-specialty prescription safety eyewear at the workplace, the employer must pay for the items.

If the safety-toe protective footwear (including steel-toe shoes or steel-toe boots) and prescription safety eyewear are non-standard “specialty” items, the employer must pay for them. For example, prescription eyeglass inserts for full-facepiece respirators and non-skid shoes for floor strippers are specialty items, so payment will be required.

OSHA allows employers to use metatarsal guards or footwear with built-in metatarsal protection when metatarsal protection is needed in the workplace. If the employer requires employees to wear metatarsal shoes or boots, the employer must pay for the footwear.

However, when the employer provides metatarsal guards and allows the employee, at their request, to use shoes or boots with built-in metatarsal protection, the employer is not required to pay for the metatarsal shoes or boots.

Employers may contribute to the cost of metatarsal shoes or boots. Some employers may offer their employees a choice between using a metatarsal guard provided and paid for by the employer or a metatarsal shoe or boot with some portion of the cost of the shoe or boot paid for by the employer, essentially establishing an allowance system. OSHA believes this to be an acceptable practice.

Employers are not required to pay for everyday clothing, such as long-sleeve shirts, long pants, street shoes, and normal work boots. This exception applies even when the employer requires employees to use these items, and the clothing provides protection from a workplace hazard.

Similarly, employers are not required to pay for ordinary clothing, skin creams, or other items used solely for protection from weather, such as:

• Winter coats, jackets, gloves, parkas;
• Rubber boots, hats, raincoats;
• Ordinary sunglasses; and
• Sunscreen.

If ordinary weather gear does not provide sufficient protection and special equipment or extraordinary clothing is needed to protect the employee from unusually severe weather conditions, the employer is required to pay for the protection.

Where an employee provides adequate protective equipment that is personally owned and brings to the worksite, the employer may allow the employee to use it and is not required to reimburse the employee for that equipment. However, the employer cannot require an employee to provide or pay for PPE, unless there is an exception in the rule.