# Did you know what PPE meant? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 12, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617 "2020-05-12T02:28:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/41 "2020-05-12T16:00:23Z")
In a prior student job, I handled lab waste, so I probably ran across it in training. It may have been long enough ago that we just used the words safety equipment. In my current job, we use the initials. As has been mentioned, PPE for field engineers includes a hard hat, reflective vest, and safety shoes. If you need to request any of those, the PPE is on the form. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/42 "2020-05-12T16:07:15Z")
It’s a common term in agriculture. ---
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/43 "2020-05-12T16:37:14Z")
Yes - I used to work at a hospital up until last October and we used the term all the time in food service. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/45 "2020-05-12T17:40:47Z")
I’m down with PPE (Yeah, you know me!) First as a geologist on a goldmine, nowadays as a dev on HSSE apps. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/46 "2020-05-12T17:51:06Z")
First heard it doing wildland fire 20 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/47 "2020-05-12T18:04:41Z")
I was trained EMT for various employers for years. I even spent some time on the hazmat team (I’d like those hours back please). I knew the term. I wouldn’t say I used it every day, because most people at the company were not trained and didn’t need to know it. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/48 "2020-05-12T18:24:03Z")
I work in logistics for a diagnostic lab company. Very familiar with the term. Before that, I was in the U.S. Army Reserves. As others upthread have mentioned, the term was in common usage when I was in the military, but what items were used as PPE was considerably different. Before _that_, I worked summers in the buildings and grounds department at a university, and I think that was my first exposure to the term. At that job, PPE was steel-toed boots (they went back and forth between requiring those and just requiring sturdy footwear that completely covered the foot and toes), safety goggles, and (optional) ear plugs. The department supplied the goggles and ear plugs, but workers had to buy their own footwear - technically tax deductible if you itemized, but still out of pocket for the worker. I think that was a major factor in the vacillation between requiring safer but more expensive steel-toed boots and cheaper but less protective ordinary footwear. ---
**Author:** ![Smudge777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Smudge777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smudge777)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/49 "2020-05-13T01:11:24Z")
I’m an civil engineering student, and my studies have extensively discussed the need for PPE on construction sites; hard hats, steel-capped boots, hi-viz vests, safety glasses, welding masks, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/50 "2020-05-13T02:52:02Z")
I will fess up. I knew from context that it meant “shit that people wear to protect themselves from COVID and etc” but if you’d asked me before this thread I would have said it probably stands for the chemicals it’s most often made out of, like polyethylperchloroethylwhatchamacallerase or some such thing. I had no idea it stood for “personal protective equipment”. And umm see my [previous comments about TLAs](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21821350&postcount=63)… ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/51 "2020-05-13T08:16:22Z")
Worked in a lab. Got put in charge of safety. Turned everything into song. “You down with PPE? Yeah you know me! You down with SOP? Yeah you know me!” ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/52 "2020-05-13T08:33:10Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > As someone who worked for years in universities and interested in politics, it mostly meant the Oxford degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, that a fair number of our politicians have. > > But as someone living near an area where there’s always some new building going up, I’ve often seen it in the official safety notices that have to be put up at the entrance to building sites (“PPE must be worn” with a handy pictogram of a builder’s helmet), so I’d worked out that meaning some years ago. I’m British also; and also knew the abbreviation in its Oxford University significance. That was, however, the only thing that the letters meant to me, until the current crisis. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/53 "2020-05-13T13:34:25Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > In Accounting, it’s property, plant, and equipment. This. > [@Jophiel](#): > > Never heard it before all this but picked it up immediately in context. But also this. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > [M]ost disposable PPE like masks does have a shelf life although that limitation is quite conservative and soon-expiring stocks could be rotated out for field use or reserved for secondary/contingency usage. Although I’m no expert, from what I’ve read, N95 masks fail because their rubber bands dry out and break. The shelf life would probably be years longer if we used better bands, which would probably cost a couple cents per unit. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/54 "2020-05-13T14:38:20Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > Although I’m no expert, from what I’ve read, N95 masks fail because their rubber bands dry out and break. The shelf life would probably be years longer if we used better bands, which would probably cost a couple cents per unit. That is true. We are having significant failure rates on the 3M mask straps. Although they are rated for multiple uses unless exposed, the quality of the straps are too low to allow that. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/55 "2020-05-13T15:09:08Z")
Yep. Used to work in social services, so my job required hospital and nursing home visits pretty frequently. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/56 "2020-05-13T18:35:28Z")
I write instructions for professionals, so know lots about PPE, especially about different types of masks and safety shoes, as well as industry-specific PPE. My personal PPE includes basic safety shoes ([S1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel-toe_boot#Europe), others have S3), hard hat and safety goggles which fit over my glasses. Every-day glasses are not sufficient protection. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/57 "2020-05-13T19:19:20Z")
I’ve been an EMT since 2010, I’d damn well better know what PPE means! ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/58 "2020-05-14T01:31:22Z")
Never heard of it before last month, and I can report that it is also a recent term in construction here (melb.vic.au). I always notice safety signs on construction sites, and this year is the first time that “PPE” has appeared there. FWIW, also did not see the term “PPE” on construction sites in Toronto last year, but that wasn’t an exhaustive survey. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/59 "2020-05-14T01:47:31Z")
I worked in manufacturing and was the designated safety trainer, so I knew it from those days. I chose the first option even though I’m in a different profession now. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/60 "2020-05-14T11:54:50Z")
I don’t remember actually using the term in the military. We used a _lot_ of acronyms; being airfield-oriented, FOD was probably most common. Earplugs were earplugs, not “PPE.” We didn’t wear safety glasses when firing weapons. Actually, being non-combat, the earplugs were the extent of our PPE. Also, being in manufacturing since 1996, PPE is just one of those terms that’s easy to forgot isn’t universal, like, say, B pillar. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617/61 "2020-05-14T13:49:00Z")
I didn’t. My wife, who is a medical coder, did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-what-ppe-meant/853617.md?page=4)