ProtecPo, a tool for pre-selection of protective materials

Safety shoes, earplugs, masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) may be necessary in addition to collective measures in order to protect workers from risks when collective measures are not sufficient or cannot be implemented. The difficulties continue to lie in how to choose the PPE appropriately and how to use it correctly, and in having high-performance assessment tools. One of the priorities for OSH professionals is to contribute to overcoming those difficulties. Computer-aided decision-making tools are developing. Soon, new technologies will make PPE more "intelligent", i.e. capable of adapting better to cope with the situations encountered. This article takes stock of these issues.