The order cannot be reversed
Selecting personal protective equipment is three steps, and the order does not change:
- Assess the risk. Which hazard, in which task, for how long, at what severity? Where exposure has been measured — noise, dust, a chemical — the selection is made against that measurement.
- Decide the protection class. The hazard dictates the performance class: cut resistance, breakthrough time, attenuation, arrest distance.
- Choose the product. One that meets the class, fits the wearer, and works alongside the other equipment.
Selection that starts from the product — “we have these gloves, hand them out” — skips the first two steps. There is PPE in the record and no protection in the field.
Compatibility is a separate requirement
Where more than one item is worn for the same task, they have to work together. If the ear defender disturbs how the helmet sits, or the spectacles break the seal of the mask, what you have is not two protections but two problems. Compatibility is tested at selection, not in the field.
The wearer is a criterion too
Size, grip, field of view, weight and heat load are part of the choice. Equipment that is not worn protects nobody, and an “issued and signed for” record does not change that fact. This is why involving the wearer, and allowing a trial and feedback stage, is not time lost.
How this stands in Optifora
The product carries 139 PPE types under eight protection groups and 71 subgroups, 220 standards attached to them, and 1,703 rows of task-to-equipment mapping drawn from the tasks the regulation names. The selection screen asks for the task and the hazard, and answers with a class and a standard — not with a product name.