The lack of scientific and technical knowledge in certain complex fields, together with schedule constraints, have lead to adopt in EN standards insufficiently validated tests, relying sometimes on an empirical approach. Thus, even personal protective equipment (PPE) with positive results in tests required by the standards can nevertheless prove to be unsatisfactory when used at work. Several r...

In the current era of emerging pathogens such as Ebola virus, removal of personal protective equipment (PPE) is crucial to reduce contamination of health care workers. However, current removal practices are not well described. We undertook a systematic evaluation of health care worker removal of PPE for contact isolation to examine variation in removal procedures. Findings indicate that under u...

BACKGROUND Healthcare personnel often use incorrect technique for donning and doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE). OBJECTIVE We tested the hypothesis that medical students receive insufficient training on correct methods for donning and doffing PPE. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional survey of medical students on clinical rotations at two teaching hospitals to determine the t...

Although the known risks of exposure to hazardous drugs have been well documented and disseminated, certain barriers remain in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by nurses administering chemotherapy. At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a program was developed that incorporated not only monitoring and reporting compliance of the use of PPE, but also engaged the staff in audit and report...

OBJECTIVE The objective of this paper was to review the effectiveness of interventions to reduce pesticide overexposure and poisonings in worker populations. METHODS We used the Cochrane Collaboration search strategy to search the following databases for articles that tested the effectiveness of interventions in reducing human pesticide exposure or poisonings: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Occupationa...

A convenience survey of 702 certified pesticide applicators was conducted in three states to assess the use of 16 types of engineering controls and 13 types of personal protective equipment (PPE). Results showed that 8 out of 16 engineering devices were adopted by more than 50% of the respondents. The type of crop, size of agricultural operation, and the type of pesticide application equipment ...