Personal Protective Equipment in Aviation

United Airlines, like any other industry competitor, emphasizes the usage of personal protection equipment for both on- and off-field workforce. PPE protects employees from risks in the airline industry. Furthermore, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires professional firms to provide a minimum set of specialized devices for personal health and danger mitigation for their employees. The protective equipment employed protects several body parts such as the ears, head, respiratory system, feet, hands, and total body protection (Gamauf, 2015).

Due to the noisy airport environment, United Airlines provides their personnel with earplugs, semi inserts, and earmuffs for hearing protection.Baggage handlers, mechanics, catering among other teams are trained on the importance of using ear protection in their working environment. Earmuffs are preferred by the workers due to their comfort as compared with earplugs. The effectiveness of the ear protection devices can be improved by the use of radio and visual communication thus minimizing dependence on audio communication. Adding reflective colors to them makes them have easy identification.

Head protection

Safety helmets are ideal safety precautions provided for their crew. The hazards in the operating field include falling objects and high movement parts of both planes and the hangars. This is effective in protecting head injuries for the field crew. They are also improved by adding reflector colors for better visibility at night and during busy working conditions.

Eye protection

Most notably crew workers in the industry use safety glasses for protection against damaging eye hazards. The hazards are mostly harsh glare of the sun, high-intensity lights and workshop eye hazards in the hangars. The airline trains the respective crews on the need of eye safety. The carrier also provides necessary wear precautions to ensure that all the crew uses eye protection against the dangers of flying objects. To ensure the effectiveness of the requirements the airline includes reminder notification signs placed strategically to remind the workers their expected eye safety.

Overall Body protection

All airline workers especially those working in busy environments like hangars, runways, baggage handlers, refueling yards and loaders are expected to adorn whole body protection equipment. This include reflector jackets, have eye protection, head protection, and noise protection devices. Not only is the safety equipment compulsory for their health but also for the safety of other airline workers. They increase visibility both at night and during the day to avoid accidents due to ignorance and poor visibility. The airline provides continuous emphasis on the importance of protective body equipment for everyone’s safety (Indu Bala, 2014).

References

Gamauf, M. (2015, August 1). Hangar Safety — Protecting Your Technicians. Retrieved from Aviation Week Network: http://aviationweek.com/business-aviation/hangar-safety-protecting-your-technicians

Indu Bala, S. K. (2014, November 1). Exploring Safety Aspects of Aviation Industry. Advances in Aerospace Science and Applications, 4(1), 37-44.