Worker Safety and Personal Protective Equipment: Employer Duties of Safety Under OSHA Regulations

This month, a new study regarding personal protective equipment (“PPE”) for workers on the job was highlighted by OHS Online magazine; the research was done as part of an “annual collaboration” by the International Safety Equipment Association and the J.J. Keller Center for Market Insights. The article reports on an apparent continuing issue regarding workers being properly protected with the correct PPE on the job, especially female workers, for various reasons. It is an admitted problem for a majority of the employers involved in the study. Read, “Study Reveals Ongoing Obstacles to Workplace Safety Gear Compliance,” written by Jesse Jacobs and published by OHS Online on May 27, 2026.

Workers in Illinois and Indiana need to be aware and alert to the importance of personal protective equipment and how it can save lives in the event of a work accident. PPE is vital to keeping workers safe. And the employer has a legal duty of safety and care regarding the personal protective equipment of all employees they are paying to work for them.

What is PPE?

Anything worn by a worker on the job to protect them from suffering bodily harm may be considered to be a type of PPE. As defined by OSHA:

Personal protective equipment, commonly referred to as “PPE”, is equipment worn to minimize exposure to hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses. These injuries and illnesses may result from contact with chemical, radiological, physical, electrical, mechanical, or other workplace hazards. Personal protective equipment may include items such as gloves, safety glasses and shoes, earplugs or muffs, hard hats, respirators, or coveralls, vests and full body suits.

What can be done to ensure proper use of personal protective equipment?

All personal protective equipment should be safely designed and constructed, and should be maintained in a clean and reliable fashion. It should fit comfortably, encouraging worker use. If the personal protective equipment does not fit properly, it can make the difference between being safely covered or dangerously exposed. When engineering, work practice, and administrative controls are not feasible or do not provide sufficient protection, employers must provide personal protective equipment to their workers and ensure its proper use.

Employer’s PPE Requirements In Illinois and Indiana

PPE is mandated by safety regulations. These are not only the overall regulations of Federal OSHA, but any that are also instituted by the state-OSHA plans of Illinois or Indiana. See, Important Things to Know About OSHA Protections and Work Accidents in Illinois or Indiana.

Overall, there are basic PPE rules for employers to follow: (1) they must assess hazards facing employees on their jobsite; (2) they must provide and pay for required PPE; (3) they must train employees on its proper use; (4) they are responsible for inspecting and maintaining the worksite PPE for all employees; and (5) the employer has a duty to replace PPE when it wears out or otherwise becomes defective.

There are a great many regulations that are specific to individual protections for industrial workers that are to be provided by the employer to keep them safe on the job. Examples include the following:

1. Assess Worker Risks; Fit; Training; Written Certification

Safety regulations require employers to consider the risks facing each worker on their payroll and their individual risks, defining each employee’s specific PPE needs. The employer then has to select PPE for that worker that is appropriate to the hazards faced by the worker, and make sure that it fits properly. The employer has to certify compliance in writing that this has been done.

Workers must be trained on the use of PPE as needed, as well as being instructed on how to take care of the PPE, and how to put it on and take it off. Construction workers have special requirements with their own set of PPE regulatory requirements.

See: 29 CFR 1910.132(d), (d)(2), (f).

2. Special PPE Example: Respirator Requirements

Some types of personal protection are specific to the task involved, and the work environment. For example, not every worker will need a respirator on the job. For those that do (think welder on construction site), then the PPE must include proper respirators for the worker, tested before use, with medical evaluation and training of the worker, and administration of the safety program in places where respirators are needed to protect from danger.

See: 29 CFR 1910.134(c), (b), (f). Also see: Transcript for the OSHA Training Video Entitled Respiratory Protection in Construction: An Overview of Hazards & OSHA’S Program Requirements.

3. Special PPE Example: Footwear

Industrial worksites are notorious for their complicated risks, and one of the traditional protections for many employees is to make sure they have properly protective footwear. This is a more complex consideration than many may realize. The needs will depend upon the worker’s role on the jobsite and the particular dangers that come with their tasks.

Retailers, recognizing this, offer special lines of “OSHA-approved safety shoes” for purchase. They may need to have steel toes. They may need to have special protections against heat, as well as being slip resistant and puncture resistant.

Protective footwear for workers must be provided that meets regulatory standards. See 29 CFR 1910.136.

Also read: Serious or Deadly Workplace Accidents: Evolving Legal Standards for PPE Work Shoes.

4. Special PPE Example: Eye and Face Protection

When it is warranted, the worker must be provided with the properly fitting PPE to keep them safe from injury to their face or eyes. This may involve shields, or filters, or other devices designed to protect against things like heat, light radiation, chemical or toxic fumes, etc.

See: 29 CFR 1910.133(a).

PPE and Work Accident Injury Claims

For workers who file for workers’ compensation benefits after a work accident injury, there is no need to prove fault. The worker complies with the procedures within the state workers’ compensation program and receives monetary benefits defined by law as provided by the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance coverage.

However, after a serious investigation into a catastrophic on-the-job accident, the worker victim may discover that one or more third parties may have legal culpability for what happened. These claims are pursued under state law (negligence; product liability; premises liability; defective products; etc.) and are independent of the workers’ compensation filing.

During these investigations, causation may be found regarding the worker’s PPE. Maybe it did not fit right. Maybe it was defective. Maybe it was repaired improperly, or maybe training failed to include vital details. In these matters, OSHA will enforce the PPE standards that apply to the employer, and this may result in citations or penalties. Civil claims may advance regarding the PPE against parties other than the employer, but each case is unique and must be individually evaluated.

Workers should be aware that their silence before an accident regarding any PPE issues may be brought up as a defense against liability but this will not be an automatic shield that bars recovery.

For more on PPE, read:

Personal protective equipment saves lives. Its importance for our industrial workers in Illinois and Indiana cannot be underestimated. The failures of so many employers to make sure their employees have proper PPE on the job is infuriating. Please be careful out there!