How to choose PPE

There's protective gear for almost every job - gloves for the hands, coveralls for the body, masks, aprons, and the covers that keep a food line clean - and choosing well comes down to matching it to the hazard.

We stock the ProVal range across the lot, and our team specs PPE for food, healthcare, cleaning and industrial sites every day. This walks you through picking the right item for the task, and the standard it needs to meet.

The short version: start with the hazard, match the PPE and its standard to it, then get the size right. Do those three and you're covered.

1.Start with the hazard

The quickest way to the wrong PPE is to shop by product - "we need coveralls" - instead of by the hazard you're actually protecting against. Work out the risk first, and the gear follows. Here's the short map.

One thing worth saying up front: PPE is the last line, not the first. Under Australian WHS law you're meant to design the hazard out or isolate it before you rely on gear - more on that at the end. Once you're down to what PPE has to catch, the rest of this guide takes each type in turn.

2.Gloves

ProVal Nitrile Blaxpowder-free nitrileShop this glove

Gloves are the PPE you'll get through most of, so they're worth getting right. The material does most of the deciding. Nitrile is the workhorse - it shrugs off fats, oils and many chemicals, it's latex-free, and it's the go-to for food processing and anything with a puncture risk. Vinyl is the cheaper, low-risk choice for short tasks; latex gives the best feel but the allergy risk has pushed it out of most food and healthcare sites; and poly is the change-often option for delis and light food service.

Two things to specify whatever the material: powder-free (powder harbours bacteria and taints food, and carries latex proteins), and food-safe where the glove touches food. Many blue food gloves are blue on purpose - there are no blue foods, so a torn piece shows up on the line. Filter the glove range by material, powder-free, latex-free or food-safe, or start with the food-safe range if that's your job.

3.Coveralls, and the Type system

ProVal Hazguard T5Type 5 particle protectionShop this coverall

Coveralls are where buyers most often get it wrong, and it comes down to one thing: the Type. The Type number tells you what the garment is actually rated to keep out, so match it to the hazard rather than the colour or the price. ProVal's Hazguard range is named by Type - T4, T5, MP4 - which makes it easy once you know what they mean.

Fabric matters too. SMS is breathable and suits dry particle work (Type 5), which is why it's the usual pick for asbestos in Australian heat, where a non-breathable suit is a heat-stress risk. Microporous film (the MP in MP4) trades some breathability for a better liquid barrier. Browse the coverall range by Type.

One to get right, not guess: asbestos removal needs a Type 5 coverall as a minimum under the Safe Work Australia code - never step below it. And confirm the exact Type and any EN 14126 rating on the product's tech sheet before you commit, especially for biological or hazmat work.

4.Aprons and gowns

ProVal CPE Splash Gownwrap-around, fluid resistantShop this gown

The choice here is coverage and strength. A lightweight polyethylene (PE) apron protects the front and is cheap enough to change often, which suits food prep, dishwashing and light cleaning. A CPE (chlorinated polyethylene) gown is thicker and fluid-resistant, wraps around the body and usually has thumb loops so the sleeves stay put - the pick for clinical and aged-care infection control, abattoirs and heavy washdowns. Browse aprons and gowns.

5.Masks and respiratory

This is the one that catches people out, so it's worth being plain: a surgical mask is not a respirator. They do different jobs. A surgical or barrier mask (to AS 4381) protects the product or patient from the wearer's droplets, and offers some splash resistance to the face - fine for food handling and general hygiene. A P2 respirator (to AS/NZS 1716) protects the wearer from airborne particles - dust, silica, welding fume, fine aerosols - and it has to seal to the face, which means fit-testing. If the job is sweeping toxic dust or sanding, a surgical mask does nothing; you need a P2. Tell us the airborne hazard and we'll point you at the right protection.

6.The covers that protect the product

Boot covers, hair nets, beard covers and sleeve covers flip the usual logic: mostly they protect the product from the worker, not the other way round. People shed skin and hair constantly, and in food processing, cleanrooms and pharma that's a contamination problem - it's core to HACCP hygiene. Boot covers stop street dirt entering a clean zone (and stop plant contaminants being tracked out), hair and beard covers catch shedding at the source, and sleeve covers bridge the gap between a glove and a short sleeve. Cheap, single-use, and the thing an audit pulls you up on if they're missing.

7.Your PPE duty

Worth closing on the legal frame, because it shapes what you buy. Under Australian WHS law, PPE sits at the bottom of the hierarchy of controls - the last line, for the risk that's left after you've tried to eliminate or isolate the hazard. Where PPE is the control, the duty on the employer is to provide it, make sure it fits (a respirator that doesn't seal isn't protecting anyone), train people to use it, and replace it when it's spent. Single-use means single-use - a scratched microporous coverall or a saturated P2 has stopped protecting, and washing them to save budget is a false economy. If you'd like a hand matching your tasks to the right PPE and the right standard, that's what our team is here for.

Tell us the job and the hazard - food line, aged-care ward, spray booth, asbestos strip - and we'll spec the PPE, the standard and the sizes to suit.