Personal Protective Equipment
GPI is helping fight COVID-19 with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Since early 2020, when the first wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak began spreading, the world has changed considerably. Tens of millions of people have been infected, and more than one million people have lost their lives. This devastating pandemic is not only causing unexpected changes and hardships in personal and family lives, but it is also significantly disrupting economic activities.
In light of the shortage of epidemic prevention and mitigation supplies, especially at a time when there is growth in extremely vulnerable aging populations worldwide, the board of directors of the General Plastic Industrial Co., Ltd. (GPI) has directed the company to dedicate significant time and resources to the development of PPE (personal protective equipment) and medical devices by initially developing and manufacturing mask-related products.
The primary PPE product line that GPI has developed includes a variety of protective, dustproof, and medical masks.
What is Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)?
PPE is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, electrical, heat, chemicals, biohazards, and airborne particulate matter. Protective equipment may be worn for job-related occupational safety and health purposes, as well as for sports and other recreational activities. "Protective clothing" is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and "protective gear" applies to items such as pads, guards, shields, or masks, and others. PPE suits can be similar in appearance to a cleanroom suit.
What is the purpose of PPE?
The purpose of personal protective equipment is to reduce employee exposure to hazards when engineering controls and administrative controls are not feasible or effective to reduce these risks to acceptable levels. PPE is needed when there are hazards present. PPE has the serious limitation that it does not eliminate the hazard at the source and may result in employees being exposed to the hazard if the equipment fails.
Optimized Utilization is Important
PPE imposes a barrier between the wearer/user and the working environment. This can create additional strains on the wearer, impair their ability to carry out their work and create significant levels of discomfort. Any of these can discourage wearers from using PPE correctly, therefore placing them at risk of injury, ill-health or, under extreme circumstances, death. Good ergonomic design can help to minimize these barriers and can therefore help to ensure safe and healthy working conditions through the correct use of PPE. GPI strives for excellent ergonomic design in its masks to ensure optimal and efficient use of these products.
PPE in the Hazard Control Hierarchy
Practices of occupational safety and health can use hazard controls and interventions to mitigate workplace hazards, which pose a threat to the safety and quality of life of workers. The hierarchy of hazard controls provides a policy framework which ranks the types of hazard controls in terms of absolute risk reduction. At the top of the hierarchy are elimination and substitution, which remove the hazard entirely or replace the hazard with a safer alternative. If elimination or substitution measures cannot apply, engineering controls and administrative controls, which seek to design safer mechanisms and coach safer human behavior, are implemented. Personal protective equipment ranks last on the hierarchy of controls, as the workers are regularly exposed to the hazard, with a barrier of protection. The hierarchy of controls is important in acknowledging that, while personal protective equipment has tremendous utility, it is not the desired mechanism of control in terms of worker safety.
Where Can I Find PPE Products from GPI?
Contact your current GPI partner, distributor or representative for more information about how you can order from our growing line of PPE products.
