The employer's duties around personal protective equipment

The legal frame

The use of PPE at work is governed EU-wide by Directive 89/656/EEC (minimum health and safety requirements for the use of PPE at the workplace); each member state transposes it — in Hungary as Decree 65/1999. (XII. 22.) EüM under the framework of the Occupational Safety Act. PPE may only be issued if it conforms to Regulation (EU) 2016/425: that is the link between the employer’s side and certification.

The employer’s main duties

1. Free provision. PPE is the employer’s cost; it cannot be passed on to the worker.
2. Risk-assessment-based selection. PPE protects only if it matches the actual risk — the workplace risk assessment is the basis.
3. Written rules of provision. The internal PPE-provision rules are set in writing; in Hungary this is a qualified safety activity involving the safety representative and the occupational health service.
4. Training. Workers must be taught correct use — its absence is the most common failure in practice.
5. Maintenance, cleaning, replacement. Keeping PPE functional is a continuous employer duty.
6. Only conforming PPE may be issued. No CE mark and category-appropriate conformity assessment — no use at the workplace.

What the CE mark on PPE stands for

Behind the CE mark of Category II and III PPE stands an EU type-examination: a notified body assessed the product against the applicable standard. On Category III PPE a four-digit number accompanies the CE mark — the identifier of the body involved in ongoing production surveillance. The markings page decodes the codes and pictograms.

When PPE does not live up to its marking

Premature failure, delaminating soles, leaking footwear — the dispute is usually whether it is a manufacturing fault, a material fault or misuse. Independent laboratory failure analysis settles that with evidential weight.