Personal protective equipment

Personal protective equipment provides protection against accidents involving a person’s head, face, eyes, ears, hands and feet. In the Netherlands, employers must make such equipment available to their employees free of charge. The equipment must comply with the Personal Protective Equipment (Commodities Act) Decree (Warenwetbesluit persoonlijke beschermingsmiddelen).

Safety requirements

There are three categories of personal protective equipment:

• Protection against mild risks (Category I)
• Protection against average risks (Category II)
• Protection against serious risks (Category III)

The safety requirements differ according to category. Manufacturers, representatives and importers must indicate which risks the products offer protection against and the product’s risk group category.

Use of personal protective equipment

As the employer, you must provide your employees with proper information on how to use and maintain the personal protective equipment. Your risk inventory and evaluation (RI&E) must contain a description of the personal protective equipment required. The equipment is always a supplement to measures taken at source or facilities that apply for everyone.