Payment for Personal Protective Equipment

Many Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards require employers to provide personal protective equipment, when it is necessary to protect employees from job-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. With few exceptions, OSHA requires employers to pay for personal protective equipment when it is used to comply with OSHA standards. These typically include: hard hats, gloves, goggles, safety shoes, safety glasses, welding helmets and goggles, face shields, chemical protective equipment and fall protection equipment.

Training Material

• Employers Must Provide and Pay for PPE, Handout #7. OSHA training Institute created a training handout to help explain about employer payment for PPE rule.

Directives

• 29 CFR Part 1910, Subpart I, Enforcement Guidance for Personal Protective Equipment in General Industry. CPL 02-01-050, (February 10, 2011). Provides enforcement personnel with instructions for determining whether employers have complied with OSHA personal protective equipment (PPE) standards.

Federal Register Notices

• Employer Payment for Personal Protective Equipment; Final Rule. Final Rules 72:64341-64430, (November 15, 2007). Stipulates that the employer must pay for required PPE, except in the limited cases specified in the standard. Safety-toe protective footwear and prescription safety glasses were excepted from the employer payment requirement, in large part because these items were considered to be very personal in nature and were often worn off the jobsite.