Compliance – the watchword of every health and safety executive, especially those working in logistics.
You know ensuring compliance with standards and regulations is vital: to safeguard your employees and visitors, and to protect your organisation reputationally and financially if something goes wrong.
But are you across everything you need to know in order to guarantee that is the case?
Ensuring PPE compliance
When it comes to personal protective equipment (PPE), there are so many different standards governing what is and isn’t acceptable, it’s easy to get confused.
Here, we break down the basics of what you need to know to keep everyone in your team safe at work.
PPE standards: the basics
PPE in the UK is used to help control health and safety risks in the workplace. This includes the risk of breathing in dust or fumes, the danger of being hit by falling materials, and the handling of sharp objects.
PPE encompasses items like safety helmets, gloves, goggles, ear defenders, hi-vis clothing, safety footwear, respirator masks and safety harnesses, all of which must be provided free of charge by employers where a risk assessment has shown that a relevant workplace hazard exists that cannot otherwise be eliminated.
Under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations, employers have a duty to ensure all the PPE they provide is:
All PPE should be carefully chosen for its ability to protect the wearer against the specified hazard. However, the decision to provide PPE should be a last resort, taken only when it is clear that the hazard cannot instead be removed, or workers isolated from it.
A guide to PPE standards
General standards
When selecting PPE, there is a single, overarching standard to which employers should adhere. This is to ensure that all items purchased are marked with a CE or UKCA designation. This marking indicates that the item conforms to standards and therefore complies with UK and EU law.
Specific standards for individual items
In addition to this overarching standard, there are specific standards governing individual items of PPE depending on the nature of the hazard they are intended to protect against.
These include:
Eye protection
Includes: safety goggles, face shields, visors
Items of eye protection in the UK are governed by the standard EN ISO 16321-1:2022, which aims to protect the wearer against eye injuries in the case of exposure to dust, debris and hazardous materials including heat, optical radiation, chemical splashes and impact by projectiles.
The standard details specific ‘protection zones’ to ensure adequate coverage based on the speed of potential projectiles, as well as clearly defined criteria for items certified as filtering out UV, infrared or other potentially harmful light rays.
View our range of certified eye protection and face protection products in our online shop.
Head and neck protection
Includes: safety helmets (hard hats), bump caps and hairnets
Safety helmets used in UK workplaces should adhere to BS EN 397:2012, a European standard governing physical performance under testing against hazards likely to cause head injury, such as the impact of falling objects.
Items like bump caps, designed to protect the wearer against cuts and other superficial injuries in the case of impact with stationary objects, are subject to the lower level standard EN 812. This ensures lightweight impact, penetration and flame/cold resistance but does not protect against impacts from falling objects or suspended loads, which are covered under the standard above.
Discover our full range of PPE for head protection in our online store.
Ear protection
Includes: ear plugs, earmuffs or semi-insert/canal caps
All PPE for hearing protection in the UK should be certified under the standard BS EN 352, which covers safety, comfort and noise reduction.
Find out more about how to choose ear protection in our blog on this topic.
Hand and arm protection
Includes: safety gloves, gauntlets and sleeving
All cut-resistant safety gloves used in UK workplaces should be tested against the standard EN 388, which assesses the level of protection given against different cut hazards, including abrasion, impact, puncture and single cut.
Safety gloves offering protection against cold risks are subject to the standard EN 511, which assesses performance against water penetration, contact cold and convective cold.
Meanwhile, thermal resistance safety gloves are tested against the standard EN 407, which covers a range of thermal hazards including contact heat and splashing by molten metals.
View our full range of safety gloves in our online store.
Feet and leg protection
Includes: safety footwear, such as boots and shoes with protective toecaps and insulating soles
Protecting the feet and lower legs against workplace injury and illness starts with a good pair of safety boots, shoes or trainers.
All safety footwear is tested to the standard EN ISO 20345 and given appropriate safety ratings detailing the level of protection offered against different workplace hazards, including impact by falling objects, slippery surfaces, and electrical currents.
Find out more about our best safety boots rated last year.
Lung protection
Includes: masks, respirators
The main safety standard governing respiratory protection in the UK is EN 149, which aims to protect workers against breathing in harmful dust, liquids, gases and vapours. Under testing against the standard, masks are given a rating of FFP1, FFP2 or FFP3, depending on the level of protection they provide (3 being the highest level of protection offered).
Alongside EN 149, there are a number of other safety standards relevant to the purchase and use of respiratory protection for the workplace. These include EN 143 for particulate filters, EN 136 for full facepieces, and EN 146 for powered respirators (hoods and helmets).
Whole body protection
Includes: safety harnesses, overalls, aprons, chemical suits
Whole-body protection PPE in the UK is covered by the general standard BS EN ISO 13688, which seeks to ensure items of PPE are safe, comfortable, and properly labelled.
Further standards specific to individual hazards include EN 14605 for items offering chemical protection like liquid and spray-tight suits, EN ISO 13982-1 for items guarding against airborne solid particles, EN ISO 11612 for heat protection, EN ISO 11611 for welding protection, and EN 61482-2 to safeguard against thermal hazards from electrical arcs.
A note on inclusivity…
Finally, employers will wish to note the newer standard BS 30417, which seeks to improve workplace safety by ensuring items of PPE always fit the wearer appropriately.
The standard aims to support employers in selecting and issuing PPE that fits and protects a diverse workforce where different genders and body types may have different requirements.
PPE care and maintenance
Purchasing the right PPE is one way to ensure your business complies with the law, but it is important to note that a singular purchasing decision at the outset may not be sufficient to protect your business in the long term.
This is because, in order to remain effective, PPE must be kept in good working order. This means it should be inspected regularly, cleaned, maintained and stored properly when not in use.
Some items of PPE (like hi-vis jackets and vests) are less effective if they are not kept clean. Dirty retroreflective strips on a hi-vis jacket, for example, might make the wearer less visible when working at night.
Items of PPE with replaceable parts that become defective should be refitted with manufacturer-approved replacement parts, correctly fitted to their instructions. Some specialist items, like safety harnesses, may need to be sent back to the manufacturer if maintenance is required.
Where items of PPE are given a shelf life, this shelf life should be noted and strictly adhered to, with replacement items issued to workers upon expiry of their existing PPE, even if it appears in good condition.
Still have questions? If you need help understanding PPE standards, or with any other issue related to the workwear and PPE your business uses, let us know. We’ll be happy to help clarify what you need to do to keep your team safe, happy and productive at work.
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Posted 12 Mar 2026
