Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is mandatory on Canadian construction sites, on new construction and renovation sites and in shops.

The safety of workers is an important part of professionalism in construction. Ensuring safe work sites involves reinforcing safe behaviour, reminding workers of safety expectations and implementation of strict 'safety first' practices on every job.

Personal protective equipment includes:

• Steel toed work boots or shoes that are CSA approved with a green triangle;
• A Class-E Hard hat with rigid foam interior lining and adjustable head strap;
• Protective eye wear rated for high-impact and chemical splashes;
• Ear protection
  
• Gloves for cold weather, for rough materials and for hazardous materials;
• High visibility clothing
• Breathing protection for dust, particulates and fumes. This may include:
  • Disposable face masks (minimum N100 rating or HEPA filter or an equivalent half-mask respirator), and...
  • Specialty Breathing Protection equipment may be required when using various harmful chemicals or products that are known to release Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Common Sense on Personal Safety:

One of the biggest hurdles in construction is getting workers to always think about how to stay safe on the job. Some workers might be embarrassed about wearing safety gear, or think that they are not being as strong or tough as their coworkers. It's a common problem for construction workers to think that they don't have enough time for being safe, possibly because the idea of being fast and getting jobs done quickly is stressed more so than work site safety.

Safety must be a top down and bottom up effort, with all workers playing a part in the general safety of a project site.

Some important general guidelines for safety:

• All jobs on a construction site or in a shop will have specific safety requirements. Different tasks or tool uses will require different PPE and safe working conditions. Workers must be made aware and trained to know these differences.
• The expectations for safe work operations must be clearly understood and highly visible to all workers.
• Site and shop managers are legally responsible for the safety of workers. General contractors and company owners are ultimately responsible for the safety of their sites and shop spaces. Heavy fines and/or imprisonment may result from failure to keep workers safe - this is written into federal and provincial occupational health and safety law!
• Ignorance of safety law is not an excuse. Your workers should understand clearly that if they don't use safety PPE, they are not allowed to do the work.
• Being proactive on safety means that you don't have to be reactive once something terrible has happened. If you see other workers being unsafe, do something about it. Make sure that you and your workers have the proper safety gear in use or conveniently at hand for your work.