What the sector changes
The sector changes the pattern of hazards, not the method. The same three steps — assess the risk, decide the class, choose the product — hold everywhere; what differs is which hazard dominates.
| Field | Dominant hazards | Protection to the fore |
|---|---|---|
| Construction | Falling objects, falls from height, dust | Head, fall arrest, respiratory |
| Mining | Dust, noise, falling objects, gas | Respiratory, hearing, head |
| Chemicals | Splash, vapour, contact | Eye and face, gloves by breakthrough time, body |
| Metalworking | Sparks, hot surfaces, cutting, noise | Eye and face, cut-resistant hand, hearing |
| Healthcare | Biological agents, sharps, chemicals | Respiratory, eye, single-use hand and body |
The limits of the shortcut
Ready-made sector sets get you started quickly, but they carry two traps. The first is excess: equipment is issued for a hazard the workplace does not have, it goes unused, and in time the whole list loses its authority. The second is omission: a hazard specific to this site — an unusual chemical, an unusual machine — is missing from the sector set and is missed.
Using it properly
The sector set is taken as a draft, compared with the risk assessment, trimmed of what does not apply and extended with what does. That comparison has to be recorded; otherwise, a year later, nobody knows where the list came from.
How this stands in Optifora
The product carries 200 requirement rows for 25 sectors, and the selection screen shows them alongside the hazards coming from the risk assessment. The two sources are marked separately: what the regulation names, and what this workplace's own assessment produced, stay visibly distinct.