Ryan Cash
Member
What safety gear do I need for pressure washing? What is PPE? Do I need PPE for soft washing? What kind of respirator do I need?
I watch a lot of videos online of people cleaning homes and one thing I notice is that wearing the proper PPE is VERY rare. Let’s start simple. PPE stands for Personal Protective Equipment.
Here is the minimum you should have on your truck and use on EVERY job.
Outside of this, you should use proper fall protection if you decide to walk roofs.
There are also a few important things you can get for your Ladders to make them safer on the jobsite as well!
This list is certainly not all inclusive but will give you a good start at protecting yourself on the jobsite!
I watch a lot of videos online of people cleaning homes and one thing I notice is that wearing the proper PPE is VERY rare. Let’s start simple. PPE stands for Personal Protective Equipment.
Here is the minimum you should have on your truck and use on EVERY job.
- Glasses/Goggles: I know not everyone likes full on goggles (they fog up/don’t look cool/blah blah blah) but at a minimum, you should be wearing safety glasses that have a foam gasket on the inside to protect your eyes from splashing of SH or debris from your pressure wand/surface cleaner. Bear in mind that even these types of glasses don't protect you 100% from splashes, this should be the absolutely minimum you should be wearing.
- Respirator: The 3m Rugged Comfort Respirator is the one I recommend the most, although you should always do a fit test to see if it’ll work for you. For spraying Sodium Hypochlorite and Pressure Washing you’ll want the dual cartridge (Magenta/Yellow) That can handle chlorine gas, air particulate, and the organic vapor from the dying mold/mildew. You may not think you need it, but please wear it! Your lungs will thank you! IF YOU CAN SMELL THE BLEACH, IT’S TIME TO REPLACE THE CARTRIDGES!
- Gloves: My recommendation is to wear a pair of Dipped Work gloves on top of a pair of disposable nitrile gloves. The disposable gloves give a waterproof layer and the work gloves protect the disposables from tears. This link is to one of my other posts in this forum about my thoughts about a cheap and easy solution for gloves!
Outside of this, you should use proper fall protection if you decide to walk roofs.
There are also a few important things you can get for your Ladders to make them safer on the jobsite as well!
This list is certainly not all inclusive but will give you a good start at protecting yourself on the jobsite!