Participant Handouts

MODULE 1
Handout #5
Benefits and Barriers to Using PPE
Benefits
• They are effective.
• They help keep the worker safe and healthy
• They protect the workforce—a much needed workforce to help control avian
influenza outbreaks.
• Workers who use them are protecting their families, communities, farms and
businesses. The help protect the economic security of a region.
Barriers
• Difficulty in performing tasks while wearing the equipment; they limit body
movement
• Difficult to communicate: Someone wearing a N-95 respirator is difficult to
understand
• Hard to see/limits visibility: goggles may limit the wearer’s visual field and can fog
up
• Can become hot/uncomfortable to wear; this requires more breaks
• Because they are difficult to take off and put on, personnel are likely to
avoid taking them off during breaks, thus increasing the risk of infection or
contamination of clothing. Workers should be educated on why they have to
change and PPE removal protocols must be enforced
• Recontamination: Wearers may become contaminated as they remove their
equipment unless decontamination and removal protocols are followed carefully.
• Intimidating: When people see workers in PPE it signals a serious problem and
can cause panic which can interfere with worker communication and cooperation.