Which Personal Protective Equipment Your Business Need To Stay Open For COVID-19
The COVID-19 has forever changed the way we do business. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a must due to persistent global uncertainty. With the prospect of a second wave of COVID-19, companies must continue to operate safely.
It is essential to understand that businesses’ needs for PPE have not changed since the beginning of the pandemic. Please note that the following organizations are the ones that need PPE the most:
- Private health care and social assistance
- Food services
- Retail trade
- Accommodation
Most businesses need at least four of the fourteen types of PPE. Please consider that the business’ demand for personal protective equipment involves different kinds of products. The most common types of items are related to disinfectants for surfaces, hand sanitizers, and masks.
The four main categories are face coverings, gowns, gloves, and disinfectant and cleaning products.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these items.
1. Face Coverings
Face coverings have become a part of our daily outfits. There are many face coverings, like face masks intended for consumer applications, medical and industrial use. It is essential to understand that depending on the service, they each have their unique requirements.
The four most common types of face coverings are:
- Industrial Face Masks – are solely manufactured for commercial purposes. Their primary job is to protect the person from chemical or physical hazards.
- Medical Face Masks – include surgical masks and N95 respirators. These types of face masks are used for health-related conditions. They should be worn for medical reasons. Surgical masks are medical tools commonly used to diagnose a disease, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent an illness.
- Face Shields – there are two types of face shields:
- Face shields for health-related conditions – this type of personal protective equipment is widely used to diagnose a disease or cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent disease. They are popular among users to avoid the transmission of COVID-19.
- Face shields for non-medical use – this type of guard can be used for sun protection and consider general wearing apparel.
- Consumer Face Masks – are considered items of wearing apparel. It’s vital to make sure these consumer face masks comply with the flammability requirements.
2. Gowns
There are different types of gowns, such as gowns used for non-medical and medical uses. The most common types of gowns are:
- Disposable Gowns – are designed as wearing apparel and are not intended to be washed or dry cleaned.
- Medical Gowns – these are the types of gowns used for health care settings. There are different types of medical gowns like surgical, isolation, surgical isolation, nonsurgical, procedural, and operating room gowns.
- Non-Medical Gowns – like the name suggest, are not for medical uses, and they are considered items of clothing.
3. Gloves
Gloves are another personal protective equipment many people are using to stop the spread of COVID-19. There are different types. The most common ones are:
- Medical Gloves – designed for health-related issues are mostly worn by medical personnel to diagnose, treat, or prevent an illness.
- Non-Medical Gloves – are considered wearing apparel. This type of gloves must comply with the flammability requirements.
4. Cleaning Products
In this category, there are many products that a business should have to provide all the safety measurements for employees and consumers. The different types of cleaning and disinfectant products include:
- Hand Sanitizers – can be found in different forms: liquid, gel, or foam. They are popular as they can be used to decrease infectious agents on their hands.
- Soaps – proper handwashing is crucial to prevent COVID-19. Soap and water work better than hand sanitizers to eliminate the coronavirus.
- Disinfecting Wipes – are used to kill germs on surfaces. The best way to use them is to clean dirt off the surface and then disinfect the area with a wipe.
- Ultraviolet Disinfecting Devices – can kill bacteria and other harmful microorganisms with a disinfection rate of 99 percent. These devices can kill bacteria, fungi, and viruses in the air.
Remember, depending on your type of business, you should select what type of PPE to use. It is imperative to provide all the proper safety measurements for you, employees, and customers.
