For workers in a variety of industries (including healthcare, pharmaceutical, construction, oil and gas, welding and metal working, and manufacturing) serious or even fatal injuries and illnesses may result from contact with chemical, radiological, electrical, physical, and mechanical workplace hazards.
PPE kits make it easy for at-risk workers to access all the personal protective equipment needed to protect themselves from specific workplace hazards and risks.
What is a PPE Kit?
A PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) kit contains protective clothing and equipment designed to protect a worker from injury or infection. PPE kits are meant to minimize the risk of exposure to life-threatening workplace hazards including fire and electricity, harmful pathogens, industrial chemicals, or other hazardous materials. Conveniently packed into one bag, a PPE kit makes it easy to keep essential PPE at hand and organized so it can be donned when needed.
What to Include in a PPE Kit
There really is no such thing as a “standard” PPE kit. The contents of a PPE kit will vary depending on the level of protection required and the nature of the hazard. PPE kits usually contain items that meet specific safety standards like the ANSI/ISEA 107 Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel.
Medical PPE Kits
PPE kits for hospital and front-line healthcare workers contain items meant to protect workers from exposure to blood, bodily fluids, and other potentially infectious materials. Medical or healthcare PPE kits usually include gloves, respirator masks, and safety goggles or face shields. Isolation gowns, shoe and head covers, and other essential personal protective equipment for healthcare workers may also be included.
Industrial & Construction PPE Kits
Construction, utility, and industrial workers need PPE to protect them from common workplace hazards such as falling debris or objects; arc flash and electrical hazards; radiant and thermal heat; air contaminants; hazardous chemicals; occupational noise exposure; cold stress; and cuts, abrasions, and mechanical hazards. PPE is available to protect your entire body including head, eyes, face, hands and arms, feet, hearing, and respiratory system. PPE kits often contain common PPE items such as hard hats, safety glasses, protective work gloves, earmuffs or earplugs, and respirator or dust masks.
Specialized PPE Kits
PPE kits for employees may also contain more specialized PPE such as:
- rubber voltage gloves, leather glove protectors, and other electrical PPE
- aluminized PPE for radiant heat and molten metal splash protection (including aluminized chaps and spats)
- hi-visibility clothing and outerwear
- steel-toed boots or welding boots
- fall protection equipment including safety harnesses
- chemical protective clothing such as chemical-resistant suits and aprons
- welding PPE including welding respirators, welder gloves, and welding aprons
- body cooling PPE (cooling vests, neck shades) and PPE for cold weather (insulated waterproof jackets, balaclavas)
OSHA requires that many categories of PPE meet or be equivalent to standards approved by the American National Standards Institute.
Different Types of PPE Kits
A PPE kit is usually designed to protect a specific type of worker (utility lineman, welder or metal worker, road construction crew member, first responder, EV mechanic) from one or more common workplace hazards.
Some of the various types of ready-made PPE kits available for purchase include:
Arc Flash Kit
Arc flash kits contain garments embroidered with arc rating; arc flash hood with hard hat; safety glasses; rubber voltage gloves, and more.
Welding PPE Kit
Welding PPE kits include multiple pieces of PPE meant to be worn together to protect the wearer from the hazards associated with welding and metalworking.
Fall Protection Kit
Fall protection kits contain fall protection harnesses, lanyards, and other PPE to protect workers from falls and fall-related injuries when working at height.
Construction PPE Starter Kit
Construction PPE starter kits are hybrid PPE and new hire kits for construction workers that contains essential construction PPE such as hard hats, ear plugs or ear muffs, protective gloves, reflective safety vests, UV safety glasses, neck shades, and cooling vests.
Tool Tethering Kit
Dropped tools and objects consistently play a leading role globally, as one of the highest causes of fatalities and serious injuries for workers on-site. Offering workers easy grab-and-go tool tethering kits can save lives.
Winter PPE Kit
Winter PPE kits may include anti-fog safety glasses or goggles; insulated waterproof gloves; hand and foot warmers; and other PPE designed to protect workers from cold and wet weather.
High-Visibility PPE Kit
Hi-Vis PPE kits include a combination of high visibility safety gear and clothing designed to increase visibility and safety in low-light work environments.
Healthcare PAPR Kit
A healthcare PAPR kit contains a battery powered air purifying respirator for first responders and health care workers, along with accessories like extra HEPA filters, disposable hoods or shrouds, and cleaning cloths.
PPE Kit for COVID-19
A highly-protective COVID-19 PPE kit for frontline healthcare workers may contain a filtering facepiece FFP3 mask or PAPR, face shield, eye goggles, long sleeve fluid resistant gown/coverall, medical bonnet, shoe covers or boots, and disposable nitrile gloves.
Cryogenic Protection Kits
Cryogenic protection kits contain PPE designed to be worn when handling cryogenic fluids used to refrigerate foods, metals, electronics, and mRNA vaccines, to name a few.
High Heat Protection Kits
High heat protection kits protect workers at steel mills, foundries, and glass manufacturing facilities from radiant heat and/or molten metal splash. Gear may include aluminized jackets, hoods with gold tinted visors, respirators, aprons, gloves, and leggings, along with sweat wicking base layers to prevent steam burns.
Other PPE Kits
Other PPE kits that are useful for at-risk workers include chemical handling PPE kits; chainsaw PPE kits to protect chainsaw operators; battery handling PPE kits; electric vehicle safety PPE kits; hearing protection kits; and face and eye protection kits. First aid kits for burns and wounds and biohazard spill kits are also available to help keep your workplace safe and clean.
Build Your Own Custom PPE Kits
Sometimes a ready-made PPE kit isn’t the optimal solution for the safety and comfort of your employees. To ensure complete protection, many companies choose to construct their own specialized full PPE kits for construction, metalworking and fabrication, foundry and mill work, utility work, general industry, and more.
Construction firms and manufacturing companies may also need to build custom PPE starter kits for new hires that include standard safety gear like ear plugs, hard hats, and safety vests as well as welcome gifts such as logo hats, jackets, and water bottles.
Building your own branded PPE kits for visitors and factory tours is also a great idea. Include hard hats, ear plugs, and safety vests…along with promotional items like logo apparel and drinkware for visitors to take home with them after a tour!
We’ll build your custom PPE kits to meet specific safety standards and regulations. We can also store custom PPE kits, new hire kits, and visitor kits off-site and ship them out on demand.
Contact Metron today to discuss PPE kitting and bundling options with a safety specialist today: