PPE for sanitation workers

Hi,

Currently my company does not provide any gears for our non staff sanitation worker. I now have to convince  senior management that it is the company's responsibility to provide uniform and safety shoes for these employees. Anyone know of any particular standard for the dress requirement of sanitation workers, i have to convince them that not providing them with gears is non-compliant with  food safety guidelines.

Jessica

If it is a third party company that is doing your sanitation they should be responsible for outfitting their employees.

Sanitation is done by our production staff however the company also hire additional employees. These employees are not hired through any agency.

Gotchya. Yes, the company should provide ppe for the jobs.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that employers protect you
from workplace hazards that can cause injury or illness. Controlling a hazard at its source is the
best way to protect workers. However, when engineering, work practice and administrative
controls are not feasible or do not provide sufficient protection, employers must provide personal
protective equipment (PPE) to you and ensure its use.

This is from OSHA

Do they come during off hours (if you have off hours)? I don't know what is actually required by OSHA but if they come at times when production is stopped, I would at least look into whether or not they actually need certain PPE and that could limit costs. For example, if no forklifts are running and they are the only ones there, they may not need steel-toed shoes, just close-toed shoes and that would not have to be supplied by the company. But, if the production area is loud even when nothing is running, they may still need ear plugs. Just throwing an idea out there!

Hi Jessica,

The extent of yr leverage may relate to what kind of business you are doing, eg fresh produce, RTE products, etc ?