personal protective equipment (PPE)

Best practice for some jobs requires that employees wear specific protective equipment. This equipment is issued to individual employees so that it can be properly fitted. For example, workers in a manufacturing plant need ear plugs, police officers need bullet-proof vests, abatement workers need hazmat suits, painters need ventilation masks, and so on.

PPE helps to ensure workplace safety by:

reducing workplace injuries
reducing illnesses that results from contact with chemical, radiological, electrical, mechanical, and other workplace hazards.

Government regulatory agencies (such as OSHA in the U.S) typically require PPE for certain jobs; when regulations do not exist, a company's safety practices may call for the use of PPE as a general precaution.