PPE Management
PPE management plays a vital role in today’s world – that we call the ‘new normal’. PPE means ‘Personal protective equipment’. This will be basically required by the general public, health care workers, and people who are involved in Aerosol generating works. The term PPE refers to protective clothing, such as:
- Protective clothing
- Helmets
- Goggles
- Masks
- Gloves etc.
PPE is classified into five different heads.
1)Eye and face protection
2)Hand protection
3)Body protection
4)Respiratory protection
5)Hearing Protection
These are worn by people at work to protect themselves against exposure to various hazards. This is anything that is capable of saving you from any conditions leading to physical harm. It is important because it makes you be prepared to face any health and safety risks. It also acts as extra protection in case of an accident or any event.
Eye Protection
For eye protection, equipment like, spectacles, eye shields, goggles, visors, etc. are used.
Hand Protection
In terms of protecting our hands from any danger, gloves, barrier creams, metal shields are used.
Body/Skin protection
Products like, Sunscreen creams, long or full-sleeved shirts, fully covered pants, hats, etc. are used for the purpose of protecting.
Respiratory Protection
Equipment used under this category is an airline, cartridge, disposable products, Breathable masks for the face.
Hearing Protection
Plugs and earmuffs are used under this head for protection.
Apart from the five main categories, there are few others like,
- Foot protection
- Working from heights.
PPE inventory management aids all the businesses and organizations to manage their stock levels in a calm and chaos – less way. They help in the lowering of the total cost while also ensuring that it will always be easily accessible and available.
HCP, which is elaborated as Health Care Personnel uses PPE to provide protection to the workers and work assigners. PPE inventory management has proven to be of real help to everyone who uses that.
Nowadays, with the help of the growing technology, apps are developing and designed so that it can make the tracking of the PPE very easy for all kinds of business. The features portrayed by the app are as follows.
- No equipment is needed when there are barcoding and QR coding
During this pandemic situation, more businesses are getting back to their work and are adapting themselves to the new normal. These Barcodes and QR codes play a very helpful part in ‘non-contact’ packaging and delivery.
- Alerts for low stock and expiring products
These apps alert the owner about the running out of stocks. When the products are brought in a few details have to be entered, later when it’s about to expire it will be useful as the app also alerts the owner about the expiration of the products.
- Location and category tracking feature
The app also provides the facility to keep track of what and where items are. They can be used to create a specific folder which makes the tracking process easier
- Access anywhere, anytime
This app gives you the option to access it from any part of the world at any time.
- It maintains customized reports for every single thing that is recorded.
- You can also have access to your inventory whenever it is needed without any restrictions.
- It helps save time. Helps you stay calm.
When the employees request the usage of PPE at work, it is the responsibility of the admin to provide permission for its usage.
The complete set up goes like this,
- Models to record the types of PPE has to be created
- These models have to be included in the PPE catalog so that, the employees can request according to their needs and wants
- Stock for PPE models should be added to track the availability of the items wherever necessary.
- Rules related to the presence of the stocks should be created to be implemented.
Importance of PPE management in the year 2020
The Coronavirus has locked us within our houses for a really long time. But most of us are safe here because of the usage of Personal protection equipment like Masks, fully covered clothes, and many other things. This equipment has helped us stay safe throughout the whole pandemic situation.
It is times like these, that help us realize the greatness of every small little thing that we use. The health care professionals totally rely on these PPE to protect themselves as well as their patients to prevent further spread as much as possible. Face masks and gloves have been more helpful than anything else in this whole year!
