Introduction

Common types of PPE.

When elimination, substitution, engineering, and administrative controls are not feasible or do not provide sufficient protection, employers must provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to their employees and ensure its use. Personal protective equipment, commonly referred to as "PPE", is equipment worn to minimize exposure to a variety of hazards. Examples of PPE include such items as gloves, foot and eye protection, protective hearing devices (earplugs, muffs), hard hats, respirators and full body suits. Remember, PPE is the last resort in hazard control, not the first choice. Some employers may mistakenly believe PPE is the end-all be-all. They might do too much, not too little.

The information in this course is general in nature and does not address all workplace hazards or PPE requirements. The information, methods and procedures in this course are based on the OSHA requirements for PPE as set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for general industry in the following OSHA 29 CFR 1910, Subpart I, Personal Protective Equipment.

Modules and Learning Objectives

Click on the links below to access the modules. You can also click on the links at the top of the page.

Learning objectives in this module include:

• Discuss general employer responsibilities related to personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Describe the limitations on the use of back belts, work clothing, and defective equipment.
• Describe the best practices for selecting PPE.
• Identify the five basic topic areas required for PPE training.
• Describe the types of eye and face protection and give examples of their use.
• Identify and describe the five types of respirators and the proper use of each type.
• Contrast non-powered and powered air-purifying respirators.
• Describe the use of supplied-air respirators (SARs) and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).

Learning objectives in this module include:

• Identify at least five tasks that might require the use of head protection.
• Identify the two types and three classes of protective helmets.
• Discuss the hazards from which hand protection is necessary to protect employees.
• Describe at least four types of gloves and the materials of which they are made.
• Discuss criteria for the selection of protective footwear.
• Identify at least three types of electrical protective equipment.
• Identify at least three types of hearing protectors and the advantages of each.

Please login to your student dashboard to access and download this FREE course PDF studyguide. You can save this study guide to your computer for offline studying, or print the study guide if you prefer.

Course 108 Final Exam

After studying the course material and answering the quiz questions, it is time to take the final exam. We highly recommend answering the module quiz questions to check your understanding of the course material. The final exam questions are typically developed from these quiz questions.

OSHAcademy course final exams are designed to make sure students have gained a sufficient understanding of the content covered within each course. To help demonstrate this understanding, students must achieve a passing score on course final exams. It is OSHAcademy's policy to protect the integrity of our exams: as a result, we do not provide missed questions to students.

This is an open book exam. Students are permitted to use a separate browser window to review course content while taking the exam. If you do not pass a final exam, you will see a "Retake Exam" button next to the course on your student dashboard.

If you have already paid for your certificate

If you have already paid for certificates, your exam score will be displayed on your student dashboard after successfully passing the final exam. If you chose PDF certificates, you can view and print your certificate and personal transcript from your student dashboard. If you chose original printed documents, they will be prepared and mailed to the address in your student account.

If you only want free training

OSHAcademy provides free access to all training materials, including course modules, practice quizzes, exercises, and final exams. However, exam scores, certificates, and transcripts are provided only if you purchase a certificate package to document your training. If you do not require official training documentation, we will archive your exam results should you decide to purchase official certificates later.

Take the Final Exam

Additional Resources

• OSHA PPE Standards, OSHA
• Personal Protective Equipment Compliance Guide, Univ. of Alabama
• A Guide to Personal Protective Equipment, NC Dept. of Labor
• Napo's Films, Via Storia
• Respiratory Protection, OSHA
• Respiratory Protection ETool, OSHA
• Respirators, NIOSH
• A Guide to Respiratory Protection, NCDOL