General requirements

Employee training

Subpart I - Personal protective equipment

Employers have to assess their workplaces for hazards present that necessitate personal protective equipment (PPE) and then select appropriate equipment to protect workers against the hazards found.

The employer is required to train each employee who has to use PPE. These employees have to be trained in at least the following areas:

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

Each affected employee has to demonstrate understanding of the training and the ability to use PPE properly before being allowed to perform work requiring its use.

When the employer has reason to believe that any affected employee who has already been trained does not have the understanding and skill required to use PPE properly, the employer must retrain the employee. Circumstances where retraining is required include, but are not limited to, situations where:

• Changes in the workplace render previous training obsolete; or
• Changes in the types of PPE to be used render previous training obsolete; or
• Inadequacies in an affected employee’s knowledge or use of assigned PPE indicate that the employee has not retained the requisite understanding or skill.