A Survey on Usage of Personal Protective Equipment in Hong Kong

Occupational Safety and Health Council

April 2000

Summary
The use of personal protective equipment usually implies that the worker is expected to operate in a potentially hazardous environment with the protective equipment as one of the key means of preventing exposure. It is, therefore, vital that the effectiveness and reliability of the protective equipment is ensured. Unfortunately, personal protection is often seen as an inexpensive solution of controlling occupational hazards, and little consideration is given to the selection of suitable and effective devices, the maintenance of the devices and to the training of persons using the devices. A study on the quality of eye protective devices used in Hong Kong conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC) in 1994 revealed that a substantial percentage of local working population purchased their personal protective equipment (PPE) from hardware stores located in industrial and residential areas. Most of these small shops sold personal protective equipment which did not conform to any standards and were sold at a low price. Many employers and employees were tempted to select these devices without knowing the hidden hazards.

A territory-wise campaign was launched by the Labour Department & OSHC in early 2000 to raise the awareness of employers and employees on the correct use of suitable PPE at work. In response to this campaign, a study was conducted to achieve the following objectives: (a) To survey the quality as well as the standard of PPE sold in Hong Kong; (b) To determine the level of awareness, knowledge and the attitude of both the storekeepers who sell personal protective equipment and workers who use PPE; and (c) To identify the support for the control of the quality of PPE sold in Hong Kong.

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A cross sectional survey was carried out to sample as many brands/models of PPE as possible such as safety helmets, earplugs, respirators and safety shoes available in Hong Kong. The attention was focused on those PPE without a label or mark indicating their conformance to approval standards.

The level of awareness and the attitude of both the storekeepers and users of PPE was sought through questionnaire surveys. A total of 203 shops were visited and 203 storekeepers were interviewed face to face using a standardised questionnaire. More than 90,000 workers who were attending the Construction Workers Green Card Course organised by the Construction Industry Training Authority (CITA) also participated in the survey. Besides, we had also interviewed 471 kitchen workers and 250 renovation workers on their use of PPE. This study provides a profile of the use

of the PPE in Hong Kong, the knowledge and attitude of the storekeepers and users, and measures for the improvement on the safe use of PPE at work.

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1. Introduction
Personal protection is one of the important measures to safeguard workers from exposure to occupational hazards. Controlling hazards at the source and making the workplace safe have long been considered preferable to relying on personal protection. However, only when it is proven impractical to control the hazards by other means, personal protection should be utilised as the last line of defense.

The use of a personal protective equipment usually implies that the worker is expected to operate in a potentially hazardous environment with the protective device as one of the key means of preventing exposure. It is, therefore, vital that the effectiveness and reliability of the device is ensured. Unfortunately, personal protection is often seen as an inexpensive solution of controlling occupational hazards. Little consideration is given to the selection of suitable and effective device, the maintenance of the device and the training of persons using the device.

In Hong Kong, legislations regarding use of PPE at work are mostly under the Factories & Industrial Undertakings (F&IU) Ordinance and its subsidiary regulations. There are broadly two categories of PPE defined by the Regulations: approved and suitable. The approved PPE is further classified as approved national standards or approved brands and models. Under the F & IU (Eye Protection) Regulation, only eye protectors conformed to recommended national standards should be provided for specified processes, while approved brands and models for ear protectors, respirators (for asbestos work) and breathing apparatus (for confined space) are stipulated by the law. For specific processes, some regulations require suitable PPE to be used such as safety belts, goggles, dust masks or respirators in construction sites, protective clothes for dry battery process and safety goggles and helmets when using cartridge-operated

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fixing tools. The word suitable means that the device can give the required level of protection and is proper for the users to wear. Other types of PPE such as insulated boots and gloves for electrical working, and protective clothing and equipment for electrolytic chromium process are also required by some specific Regulations. The Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance enacted in 1997 imposes the general duties on employers to ensure a working environment that is safe and without risks to health. The government is now intending to introduce a legislation requiring employers to provide suitable gear to protect the employees safety and health at work. However, there is no legislation requiring suppliers or retailers to provide information when selling PPE including labelling. Therefore in Hong Kong, whether the employers and

employees can select and use a suitable PPE depend greatly on their awareness and knowledge of, and attitude towards using the PPE and sufficient information provided.

In Hong Kong, PPE such as safety helmet, ear plugs, respirator and safety shoes can be purchased from some large and well-known retail shops or companies which are specialized in selling PPE. Users can also purchase their PPE from numerous small to

medium sized hardware stores located conveniently in industrial and residential areas. Most of the time, these hardware stores can provide a cheaper price and better accessibility for their customers who want to buy PPE. conformed to any safety standards? However, are the PPE sold

Can storekeepers provide useful information on

suitable PPE to users according to their different working conditions? What are the practice and attitude of workers on using PPE at work? A review of the Occupational

Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) in the United States pointed out that each year, improper use of personal protective equipment leads to thousands of head, eye, face, hand and foot injuries.

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A study on the quality of eye protective devices used in Hong Kong conducted by OSHC in 1994 revealed that a high percentage of the eye protectors tested in this study could not provide the protection they claimed to do. Thirty-three percent of impact-type eye protectors failed to comply with impact test and most of gas welding goggles could not provide adequate protection against ultraviolet and infra-red radiation. The filters used with face shields for arc welding could not provide protection against ultraviolet at 313 mm. All the filters, backing lenses and cover lenses were fractured during the robustness test.

It was also found that the eye protectors made in the developed countries such as U.S.A., U.K., Germany and Australia and with a label or mark denoting the appropriate standards generally passed the mandatory tests according to the British standards. While a high failure rate was found in the eye protectors of unknown origin or made in the South-East Asian countries including mainland China and Hong Kong. Most of them did not have any labels nor markings at all. The problem on the quality of other types of PPE used in Hong Kong deserves our great attention.

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2. Research Objectives
A territory-wise campaign has been launched in early 2000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Council aiming to raise the awareness of employers and employees on the correct use of suitable PPE at work. It is hoped that through this study, the following objectives can be achieved.

(a) To survey the quality as well as the standard of PPE sold in Hong Kong; (b) To determine the level of awareness, knowledge and the attitude of both storekeepers who sell personal protective equipment and workers who use PPE; and (c) To identify the support for the control of the quality of PPE sold in Hong Kong.

The survey would also serve as a baseline for assessing the effectiveness of the campaign in the use of suitable PPE in Hong Kong.

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3. Research Methodology
A preliminary survey on the construction and renovation workers was conducted. It was found that the majority of workers obtained their PPE from hardware stores, apart from those provided by the employers, for which sources were unknown (Table 1). Therefore, the hardware stores which sell PPE were the target point of the survey. According to the sources of the Census and Statistics Department, there were 1006 hardware & metalware retail shops in Hong Kong. The scope of the items that Hong

Kong hardware stores sell could vary from a simple ironmongery or metals goods to everything for domestic use. In the pilot survey, some small hardware stores we

approached were not in the census list, which made random sampling rather difficult. Therefore, for the logistical reasons, a cluster sampling was employed.

A research team visited all major industrial areas where clusters of general hardware stores selling PPE were located. also visited. In addition, shops specialised in selling PPE were

The list of PPE included helmets, dust masks, respirators, earplugs,

gloves, safety spectacles and goggles, safety belts and safety harness. The research team would approach a shop asking for two or three kinds of PPE on the investigation list as ordinary customers. The effort was made to sample as many brands/models as possible. The attention was focused on those equipment without a label or mark indicating their conformance to approval standards.

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Table 1 Preliminary survey on sources of PPE purchased Number of responses Hardware stores Household stores Shops specialized in selling PPE sources unknown Total 1061 14 97 560 1732 % 61.2 0.8 5.6 32.3 100.0

The information such as labelling of standards, user manuals, content of the manuals, and price of the products were collected by observation and conversation with storekeepers and recorded in a pre-designed form. The information about the awareness and knowledge of storekeepers on standards and quality of PPE, and attitude on selling PPE was obtained by using a standardised questionnaire.

The information on users knowledge of, and attitude to, using of PPE were gathered from three individual but inter-related surveys which were conducted at the same period of time. They are Survey of Occupational Safety and Health Situation in Renovation

and Decoration Trade Industry in Hong Kong, Survey of Occupational Safety and Health Situation in Chinese Restaurants in Hong Kong and Survey of Participants Attending the Construction Workers Green Card Course. effectiveness of PPE were also collected. Users opinions on the

The results from the survey were analysed with SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science).

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4. Results
The survey was conducted from November to December 1999. A total of 203 shops

were visited. Among them, 34% were located in Hong Kong Island, 47% were in Kowloon and others (19%) were in the New Territories.

The majority of the shops visited were hardware stores (90%).

We also visited 9 shops

specialized in selling PPE in town. The others were supermarkets (1%) and household stores (5%) (Table 2). Most of the shops surveyed employed only 1 to 3 staff (84%), while 15% of them having 4 to 6 staff. Only two shops employed more than 6 persons.

Table 2 Types of shops visited Type of shop Hardware store Shops specialized in selling PPE Supermarket Household stores Total Number 183 9 2 9 203 % 90.1 4.4 1.0 4.5 100.0

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4.1 Characteristics of Personal Protection Equipment sold in Hong Kong For the PPE being surveyed, 85% of safety helmets had labels indicating conformance to various national standards, the majority of them were based on EN 397:1995. 92%

of the ear plugs were marked with national standards which were in the list recommended by Labour Department. However, as shown in Table 3, only one-third

of the dust masks and half of the respirators surveyed bore labels indicating whether they conformed to any acceptable standards. Even for safety belts and harness, only 29% and 60% of these essential protective gears against falling from height had labels. In general, for PPE like safety helmets, dust masks, respirators, ear plugs and safety harness, imported from USA and UK, the percentage of them marked with respective standards were higher. Only one safety gloves for welding and one safety spectacles for chemicals surveyed had labels claiming conformation to the Chinese national standard. The common types of standards found by the survey were EN 397 for safety helmets; EN 403 for respirators; EN 352 for ear plugs and EN 381 for safety harness. The prices of dust masks, ear plugs, safety gloves for welding and chemical, and safety spectacles for chemical was in the range from $5 to $10. For safety harness, their prices varied from $100 to $400.

The information given in the user manual of PPE is very important in helping the user in the proper use and maintenance of the equipment. More than half of the safety

helmets (69%), ear plugs (92%) and safety belts (79%) had user manuals (Table 4). The major language of the manuals was in English. Since most of the construction

workers in Hong Kong are Chinese. The English manual would be difficult for them to understand the usage of PPE. The user manuals of safety helmets and respirators were

more comprehensive, including the introduction for use and the maintenance method. However, only 33% of respirators manuals mentioned precautions. 95% of the user

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manuals of ear plugs mentioned about the method of using, but not much about the maintenance method (18%) nor the precautions (27%). From 11 models/brands of safety belts which had user manuals, 73% mentioned about maintenance method and precautions. For important PPE items such as safety harness, only 90% had user manuals. Furthermore, only one-third of them mentioned about maintenance methods and precaution.

It was very disappointed that none of the safety gloves for welding had user manual. While for gloves for chemicals, only 36% had user manuals. Half of which mentioned precaution. Less than 20% of eye protectors had included with user manuals.

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Table 3
Type of PPE Safety helmet Dust mask Respirator

Characteristics of PPE surveyed

No. of brands surveyed 13 12 6 12 10 11 11 10 14 10 Range of price ($) 25-35 <10 50-100 5-10 5-10 5-10 5-10 5-50 50-100 100-400 % of PPE marked with certain national standard No. (%) 11 (84.6) 4 (33.3) 3 (50.0) 11 (91.7) 1 (10.0) 2 (18.2) 1 (9.1) 3 (30.0) 4 (28.6) 6 (60.0) Major type of national standard EN397:1995 42CFR84 EN403 EN352-2 CE-96 CE0493 CE0196 ANSIZ B71:1989 JISM 7624:1994 EN381

Ear plugs
Safety gloves (Welding) Safety gloves (Chemical) Safety Spectacles (Chemical) Safety Spectacles (Welding) Safety belt Safety harness

Table 4
Type of PPE Safety helmet Dust mask Respirator Ear plugs Safety gloves (Welding) Safety gloves (Chemical) Safety Spectacles (Chemical) Safety Spectacles (Welding) Safety belt Safety harness

Contents of the PPE user manuals surveyed

PPE with user manual & method of using No. (%) 9 (69.2) 9 (75.0) 3 (50.0) 11 (91.7) 0 (0) 4 (36.4) 2 (18.2) 2 (20.0) 11 (78.6) 9 (90.0) Manual with maintenance method No. (%) 9 (100) 3 (33.3) 3 (100) 2 (18.2) 0 (0) 3 (75.0) 1 (50.0) 1 (50.0) 8 (72.7) 3 (33.3) Manual with precautions No. (%) 9 (100) 7 (77.8) 1 (33.3) 3 (27.3) 0 (0) 2 (50.0) 1 (50.0) 2 (100) 8 (72.7) 3 (33.3)

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4.2 Attitude and knowledge of storekeepers

The information on the attitude and the knowledge of storekeepers was collected from observation and conversation with them. A total of 203 storekeepers participated in

the survey. As shown in Table 5, when the researchers went to the shops and asked for PPE, 71% of the storekeepers were willing to provide information of their products, but only 34 % of the storekeepers had asked their customers occupations and the specific processes that were involved. Other storekeepers did not ask their customers job

nature and working environment before selling the PPE.

Among the storekeepers being visited, only 13 % of them recommended PPE to the customers because the products were conformed to certain acceptable standards. More than 86 % of storekeepers recommended their products based on the price of the PPE or their own experience without sufficient background knowledge. Less than 1% of the storekeepers recommended their products based on manufacturers advice (others had never heard about it before). With regard to the national or international standards of PPE, less than 14% of the storekeepers could cite one or more standards of their products.

User manuals or instructions were very important reference documents for users to use and maintain the PPE properly. However, less than 15% of the storekeepers could tell

their customers the methods of using the PPE, maintenance method and the precautions when using the PPE according to the user manuals.

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Table 5 Knowledge and attitude of storekeepers on PPE Number 1. Willing to provide information about PPE 2. Willing to ask for customers occupations before selling PPE 3. Reasons for promoting specific PPE: 144 69 % 71 34

Products with standard Good price Storekeepers own experience Manufacturers advice
4. Could cite the standard 5. Tell customers the method of using PPE 6. Tell customers the warranty period of PPE 7. Tell customers the maintenance method of PPE 8. Tell customers the precautions when using the PPE

26 89 87 1 28 26 30 16 28

13 44 43 1 14 13 15 8 14

From the interview with the storekeepers about the products they supplied, we rated the storekeepers knowledge with PPE they sold according to their familiarity with the standards and quality of products, their willingness to provide their customers with information on the selection and usage of PPE, and their knowledge of their customers occupations, based on a 1-5 Likert scale, from very knowledgeable to very unknowledgeable.

As shown in Table 6, the majority of the storekeepers (87%) were familiar or knowledgeable with standards of helmets and were able to tell the methods of using, maintenance and precautions when using the PPE according to the user manuals.

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However, for other PPE, knowledge of storekeepers was quite limited. Less than 20% of storekeepers were able to provide information about the standards and selection of proper safety belts and harness to their customers. Similar situations were also observed in selling safety gloves, spectacles and dust masks. Most of storekeepers were unable to tell the standards of their products and were not familiar with the methods of using, maintenance method and precautions of the PPE.

Table 6

Knowledge and awareness of the storekeepers on PPE Very Average Very Knowledgeable Knowledgeab Knowledgeab Unknowledgea Unknowledgea No. (%) le le ble ble No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) 2 (3) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 13 (21) 7 (9) 6 (16) 0 (0) 2 (8) 16 (21) 3 (7) 0 (0) 3 (4) 4 (13) 27 (43) 16 (20) 5 (14) 4 (6) 2 (8) 13 (17) 7 (16) 2 (4) 7 (9) 2 (7) 17 (27) 48 (59) 17 (46) 56 (83) 12 (46) 43 (57) 18 (39) 41 (72) 55 (66) 23 (73) 4 (6) 11 (12) 9 (24) 7 (11) 10 (38) 3 (5) 17 (38) 14 (24) 17 (21) 2 (7)

Type of PPE

Safety helmet Dust mask Respirator Safety gloves (Welding) Safety gloves (Chemical) Ear plugs Safety spectacles (Welding) Safety spectacles (Chemical) Safety belt Safety harness

0 (0) 0 (0)

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4.3 Knowledge and Attitude of Users

There were 92,933 construction workers, 250 renovation workers and 471 kitchen workers participated in the survey. Over 9% of the construction workers claimed that their employers did not provide them with any personal protective equipment (Table 7). In a small sample of the employees whose employers did not provide them with any personal protective equipment, only 44% of them had ever asked their employers for the equipment. As shown in Table 8 and Table 9, about 92% of the participants put on

safety helmets and 65% wore safety shoes when working at construction sites. Using safety goggles, safety belts, respirators, goggles/safety spectacles and ear plugs/ear muffs were less common, ranging from 51%, 50%, 41%, 39% to 30% respectively. The view on whether there is need to use PPE at work was sought from a small sample of participants. It was found that only 70% of the participants recognized the need to wear safety helmets. With respect to safety belts, only about 40% of them recognized there was need to use safety belts at work.

For the renovation workers interviewed, less than 50% of them were using PPE such as safety helmets (33.6%), safety goggles (37.6%), safety belts (25.6%), safety gloves (45%), safety shoes (20.1%), ear plugs (21.3%) and face mask (11.2%). Not more

than 10% of the workers had used protective clothing (9.2%) or apron (2.8%). Moreover, for the workers who wore PPE, only 44% of them were using PPE marked with standards.

470 kitchen workers were interviewed on their views on using PPE as a safe means of protection at work. their daily work. 67.7% of the kitchen workers claimed that PPE was needed in In fact, 74.5% of the subjects who wore PPE during work didnt

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think that the PPE were necessary.

The most common PPE used by the kitchen

workers was apron (54.1%), rubber boots (21.7%), safety gloves (18.5%), safety shoes (17.6%), work uniform (14.9%) and sleeve (8.3 %).

Table 7

Provision of personal protective equipment at construction sites Male (%) Female (%) Total (%)

Provision of PPE by employers: Yes No Total Ask employer to provide PPE: Yes No Total 205 (44.2) 254 (55.8) 459 (100) 14 (100) 0 (0) 14 (100) 219 (46.3) 254 (53.7) 473 (100) 76089 (90.6) 7894 (9.4) 83983 (100) 2539 (89.0) 207 (11.0) 2746 (100) 78628 (90.7) 8101 (9.3) 86729 (100)

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Table 8

Workers opinions on necessity of using PPE at work Male (%) Female (%) 12 (78.6) 11 (71.4) 5 (28.6) 5 (28.6) 9 (57.1) 9 (57.1) 4 (21.4) Total (%) 371 (70.3) 234 (44.3) 203 (38.4) 224 (42.4) 225 (42.6) 277 (52.5) 167 (31.6)

Safety helmet Dust mask Eye Protector Safety belt Safety glove Safety shoe Ear protector

359 (69.7) 223 (42.9) 198 (38.6) 219 (42.7) 216 (41.2) 268 (52.5) 163 (30.5)

Table 9

Usage of PPE among construction, kitchen and renovation workers Construction worker Kitchen worker Renovation worker No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) 85233 (91.7) 38170 (41.1) 35746 (38.5) 46288 (49.8) 47421 (51.0) 60506 (65.1) 27595 (29.7) N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. 87 (18.5) 83 (17.6) N.A. 70 (14.9) 255 (54.1) 39 (8.3) 102 (21.7) 84 (33.6) 129 (51.6) 94 (37.6) 64 (25.6) 112 (45.0) 50 (20.1) 53 (21.3) 23 (9.2) 7 (2.8) N.A. N.A.

PPE used at work Safety helmet Dust mask Eye protector Safety belt Safety glove Safety shoes Ear protecor Work Uniform Apron Sleeve Rubber boots

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With respect to the knowledge and the attitude in the use of personal protective equipment, most employees believed that using PPE help enhancing safety and would not compromise efficiency. However there were still 27% employees thought using personal protective equipment would affect efficiency of the work (Tables 10 and 11).

While the main reason for renovation workers not using the PPE (61.3%) was that using PPE at work would reduce their working efficiency. Only 36.7% of them thought

there was no effect on working efficiency. When compared with construction workers, there were 27% PPE users thought that using PPE at work would reduce their working efficiency. It showed that the awareness of renovation workers on PPE were lower

than that of the construction workers in Hong Kong.

Table 10

Opinions of construction workers on usefulness of PPE at work Male (%) Female (%) 1130 (38.2) 1592 (53.8) 198 (6.7) 9 (0.3) 30 (1.0) 2959 (100) Total (%) 34518 (38.5) 49822 (55.6) 4432 (4.9) 346 (0.4) 464 (0.5) 89582 (100)

Very helpful Helpful No comment Not helpful No help at all Total

33388 (37.9) 48230 (56.9) 4234 (4.3) 337 (0.4) 434 (0.5) 86623 (100)

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Table 11

Opinions of construction and renovation workers

towards the use of PPE affecting efficiency of work Construction worker (%) Seriously reduce efficiency Reduce efficiency No effect Increase efficiency Effectively increase efficiency Total 1371 (1.6) 22506 (25.6) 50270 (57.1) 5914 (6.7) 7942 (9.0) 88003 (100) Renovation worker (%) 4 (1.6) 148 (59.7) 91 (36.7) 3 (1.2) 1 (0.4) 248 (100)

Table 12 shows 63% of the workers chose their PPE based on the products with indications of conformance to standards, while only 10% chose on price. In addition,

easy to use (10.5%) and colleagues recommendation (14.5%) also had certain effect on choosing PPE. Therefore, the Government should publish a guideline on standards so The design of PPE should also be

that PPE users were able to follow easily.

comfortable and easy to wear so that less workers were reluctant to use them. Table 12 Criteria of choosing PPE among renovation workers Number Standard Good price Good style Easy to wear Recommended by colleagues Others Total 155 25 1 26 36 5 248 % 62.5 10.1 0.4 10.5 14.5 2.0 100.0

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5. Discussion and Conclusions

A comprehensive survey was conducted to investigate the quality as well the standards of the PPE being sold and used in Hong Kong, and to determine the level of awareness, knowledge and attitude of storekeepers who sell PPE and workers who use PPE at work. A broad range of PPE was investigated, including safety helmets, dust masks, ear plugs, safety gloves and respirators. The findings reveal that a substantial percentage of PPE sold in the market did not bear any labels or marks indicating conformance to any standards.

The majority of safety helmets and ear plugs sold were marked with some national standards. The requirements of these two PPE have been described in details by the specific Regulations and have drawn the attention of the public and the media. The knowledge of the storekeepers and users on safety helmets and ear plugs were better than that they have on other PPE items. However, it is quite disappointing to see that most of the eye protectors, no matter either providing protection against chemicals or hazards arising from welding, did not have any labels. It is also intolerable that only 29% and 60% of safety belts and harness were marked with national standards. This is important as people might rely on them as the principal means of preventing falling from height.

It is not surprising that not all PPE were sold with user manual. Even there was a manual, the language was in English. It might be difficult for a local user to

understand it. Moreover, some of the important information of the PPE were often missing, e.g. method of using the PPE, maintenance or precaution. important information for a user to select and use the PPE. These are

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As mentioned above, if personal protection was to be an effective solution to prevent occupational risk, the nature of the risk and its relationship to the overall work environment must be fully understood. The apparent simplicity of many protective

devices could present a strong temptation to short cut an evaluation step. People might think that selling or purchasing PPE did not require any special skills or technique. The consequences of wearing sub-standard PPE might range from impaired job performance to endangering the health or even life of the workers. It is therefore important that employers and employees have basic knowledge about the potential hazards at work, the length of time for which the device would be expected to perform at a known level of protection, and the proper use and precaution of the equipment in use.

Since majority of the workforce in Hong Kong purchases their PPE from hardware stores, the information of PPE provided by the suppliers is important. However, results of the survey showed that a high percentage of the storekeepers was not familiar with the PPE products they sold. Information on PPE were often not available or not adequately provided to the user. Results also showed that most of the storekeepers would not ask the customers job nature or working environment before selling them the PPE. Usually, they recommended their products based on price or whatever they felt to be suitable. Quite often they were unable to tell the methods of using, maintenance method and precautions of the PPE.

The current regulations only imposes responsibilities on users (employers and employees). It would be equally important that the manufacturers and suppliers of PPE should bear some responsibilities to ensure protective equipment conforming to

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acceptable standards to be sold and to provide clear instructions of using PPE.

The government should publish a guideline to the manufacturers and supplier of PPE to provide proper labeling, users instructions and specification of the protection devices in Chinese. Such practice would be in line with the legal requirements imposed on others products such as medicine, food and electronic appliances.

One of the key problems with the personal protection programme is that it places a great deal of emphasis on the user. The apparent simplicity of some PPE could result in a gross underestimation of the amount of care that should be exercised to select a suitable and effective equipment. While some devices were relatively simple, such as ear plugs and safety helmets, other equipment such as respirators could actually be very complex. It is therefore, hazardous to sell the equipment only without knowing the nature of the danger and performance of PPE which depends upon the fit of the device on the user, maintenance and personal training.

The data collected from 92,933 construction workers, 471 kitchen workers and 250 renovation workers reveals that a substantial percentage of construction workers did not recognise the need to wear PPE at work. In line with this level of awareness, the percentage of participants who would use PPE while working in the construction and renovation sites, and kitchens was generally low. Even for the safety helmet which is required by the law that everyone entering construction site must put on safety helmet, there were still construction workers (8%) and renovation workers (66%) who did not put on safety helmet at work.

Although there are various Regulations requiring approved or suitable PPE to be

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provided by the employers and used by the employees, prosecution of any one who does not provide or use, misuse or use improper PPE was very rare. It is recommended that the enforcement of the legislation concerning using of PPE should be strengthened and monitored.

With respect to the knowledge and attitude of workers in the use of PPE, there were more than 30% of construction and renovation workers believed that using PPE would affect their efficiency at work. Education and training is vital to enhance the awareness and the knowledge of employers and employees in using suitable and effective PPE. It is the duties of the employers to ensure that employees should be given adequate information, instruction and training on safety and health.

There are five key elements involved in a personal protection programme:

Assesses the risk of hazard Select suitable PPE to provide protection Maintain it in good condition Ensure that it is properly used Training, inform and instruct employees in the correct manner of use

The above five facets should be regarded as vital to the success of the programme, since the negligence of any one of them will result in a failure of the whole.

The Council should launch a comprehensive personal protection programme in Hong Kong. The programmes should include the above five elements especially in the choice and use of the right type of PPE, maintenance of the device and training of persons who use the device.

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The Government intends to introduce the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulation under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance soon. It is recommended that a guidance containing practical advice on the proper use of PPE should be published. It is only through the joint effort of the Government, the employers and employees to prevent any hazard associated with improper use of PPE at work.

References
(1) The study of the quality of eye protector devices used in Hong Kong by the Occupational Safety and Health Council (1994) (2) A Survey on the Usage of Hard Hats in Hong Kong Constructions by the Occupational Safety and Health Council (1999)

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