As you determine how to outfit each type of worker in your facility, start by considering all applicable regulatory requirements. Various standards from the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and other organizations can all come into play, depending on the type of work at your facility.

First, consider OSHA's 29 CFR 1910, Standard for General Industry. This is the source of the often-cited General Duty clause, saying that employers will furnish to each of his employees a place of employment that is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. A hazard is any existing or potential physical condition which by itself or by interacting with other variables, can result in death, injury, illness, property damage and/or other losses.

According to OSHA, if a given hazard can't be eliminated, it must be controlled. So, you'll also need to be familiar with OSHA's Personal Protective Equipment standard for those instances where your company cannot eliminate or engineer out the hazards.

This standard requires employers to determine what personal protective equipment (PPE) is necessary based on workers' specific activities. To do this, you'll need to conduct a risk assessment of each job.

Luckily, plenty of personal protective equipment is available to meet any need. But that PPE can only protect employees when it's the right gear for the particular task and it's worn correctly at all times.

PPE worn for situations other than those intended by the manufacturer can actually create hazards when worn inappropriately or cared for improperly.

Common hazards in distribution centers include:

• Cuts and abrasions
• Strains and sprains
• Falls from heights
• Excessive noise
• Electrical work
• Extreme temperatures

Workers need appropriate gloves for such common tasks as cutting boxes or other materials, pallet handling and picking product. Glove materials must be sturdy enough to provide protection for the specific task to gloves that are too small or too large can reduce workers' dexterity and contribute to fatigue. This leaves workers vulnerable to repetitive stress injuries, reduced productivity and seemingly unrelated injuries like dropping heavy objects on themselves or others.

Low-back strains continue to be the leading cause of lost-time occupational injuries. There are no substitutes for teaching and enforcing proper lifting techniques.

If your company authorizes the use of back belts, be aware that several large studies conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have shown they can cause back muscles to atrophy if worn tightly for prolonged periods, making the wearer more prone to injury. They may also impart a false sense of confidence. Always seek medical advice when considering the use of back belts.

Working at height is a common distribution activity for servicing equipment, clearing jams and operating order pickers. According to OSHA 1910 Subpart D, Walking-Working Surfaces, fall protection is required whenever workers conduct activities 4 feet or more above the working surface. When identifying the need for fall protection, always include employee position in your calculations: the 42-inch top rail that is adequate for employees working on the floor becomes inadequate when employees are working on a stepstool in that area.

Be sure you understand the requirements in OSHA 1915.159, Personal Fall Arrest Systems, before you select or install fall-arrest equipment like lanyards, body harnesses (consider flexible harnesses, if possible) and approved tie-off points (temporary, permanent or lifeline). Consider using retractable lanyards, which are designed to engage quickly to limit fall distance, compared to lanyards that engage at a predetermined length. When used properly, retractable lanyards can reduce trauma to the body and force to the tie-off point during a fall.

OSHA 1910.95, Occupational Noise Exposure, requires employers to provide hearing protection to workers who are exposed to noise with an 8-hour time weight average (TWA) of 85 decibels on an A scale (dbA). Once the noise level reaches 90 dbA or greater on an 8-hour TWA, employees must wear hearing protection. OSHA says that employees who are required to wear hearing protection shall be given the opportunity to select their hearing protectors from a variety of suitable hearing protectors provided by the employer.

Selecting PPE to protect workers from electrical shocks, blasts and arcs will require you to become knowledgeable about OSHA 1910.331-335, Electrical Safety Related Work Practices, and NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace, and/or hire an expert vendor. One critical factor in selecting the proper PPE is conducting an arc fault analysis to determine what category you will need to dress to. For example, the following PPE is required using the Category 2 quick method from NFPA 70E:

• Flame-resistive clothing (8 cal minimum)
• 1000 V-rated rubber gloves
• Leather glove protectors
• EH hard hat and face shield
• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection (ear plugs)
• Head sock
• Leather work shoes (consider electrical hazard rated shoes with non-metallic protected toe)

When outfitting workers for refrigerated or frozen-storage areas, you should focus on warmth while limiting bulk. Consider banning hooded clothing when working on or near automated retrieval or powered industrial trucks because they (especially snorkel hoods) can drastically block vision. I am personally aware of one employee who was killed because his hood impaired his vision and he was caught between his lift truck and a rack leg.

The need for warmth without bulk extends to gloves, too. Recently, one of our clients started to use a low-cost solution by providing medical gloves to employees who perform high-dexterity tasks. They found these gloves to be effective when used under other gloves or by themselves. If you try this, do not select latex gloves since some individuals are allergic to latex.