Personal protective equipment (PPE) refers to protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garment designed to protect the wearer's body or clothing from injury by electrical hazards, heat, chemicals, and infection, for job-related occupational safety and health purposes, and in sports, martial arts, combat, etc. Personal armor is combat-specialized protective gear.

PPE can also be used to protect the working environment from pesticide application, pollution or infection from the worker (for example in a microchip factory).

The protection may be important in both ways, as with the use of disposable gloves by surgeons and dentists.

Protective clothing is also worn for contact sports, such as ice hockey and American football. Baseball players wear sliding shorts and a cup under their pants. See baseball clothing and equipment, goalie mask, jockstrap.

In British legislation the term PPE does not cover items such as armour.

Common protective materials include Nomex and Kevlar.

The terms "protective gear" and "protective clothing" are in many cases interchangeable; "protective clothing" is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and "gear" is a more general term and preferably means uniquely protective categories, such as pads, guards, shields, masks, etc.

For riding a motorcycle, protective headgear and eyegear are required by law in many countries.

Respiratory protection

• Filter mask
• Gas mask
• Air-purifying respirator
• Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, including scuba sets.

Protective headgear

Helmets

See Helmet#Types of helmet

Masks

Some masks made of hard material like those used by goaltenders in ice hockey (a goalie mask) and catchers in baseball as protection against being struck in the face.

• For gasmasks and similar, see #Respiratory protection.
• See Mask (disambiguation)

Eye protection

See Eye protection.

Hearing protection

• Ear defenders
• Earplug
• Earmuffs
• Earpads/earflaps

Other head/neck protection

• Throat guard
• Headguard (Head guard)
• Boxing headgear
• Mouthguard
• Armored/insulated hood
• Association football headgear

Arm/shoulder protection

• Shoulder pads
• Hand guard
• Forearm guard
• Fist guard
• Knuckle guard
• Wrist guard
• Elbow guard
• Elbow pad
• Hand/wrist wraps
• Boxing tape, handwrap gauze

Hand protection

• Gloves are available to protect against:
• Chemicals, contamination and infection (e.g. disposable latex/vinyl/nitrile gloves)
• Extremes of temperature (e.g. oven gloves, welder's gloves)
• Mechanical hazards (e.g. rigger gloves, chainmail gloves)
• Lacerations and other wounds from sharp objects
• Baseball glove
• Belay gloves
• Cycling gloves
• Falconry gloves
• Hockey glove
• Wicket-keeper's gloves

Body protection

• Also see #Protective garments

Athletic supporter/protective cup

Chestguard (Chest guard, Hogu)

Rib guard

Abdomen guard (cricket box)

Leg/hip protection

• Foot guard
• Hip pads (Hip pad)
• Knee pads
• Instep guard/instep protector
• Shin guard (shin guards)
• Combined knee-shin guards
• Padded shorts
• Bouldering mat
• Chaps are individual pant leggings made of leather and worn by farriers, cowboys, and rodeo contestants to protect the legs from contact with hooves, thorny undergrowth, and other such work hazards. May also be made of other materials for leg protection against other hazards, such as "rain chaps" of waterproof materials, or "saw chaps" of Kevlar for chainsaw workers.

Protective footwear

• Clogs
• Steel-toe boots
• Hobnailed boots
• Combat boot

Protective garments

Protective suit is an umbrella term for any suit or clothing which protects the wearer. Any specific design of suit may offer protection against biological and chemical chemical agents, particle radiation (alpha) and/or radiation (delta and gamma), and may offer flash protection in the case of bomb disposal suits. Most forms of industrial clothing are protective clothing. Personal protective equipment includes:

Complete suits

The word "chemsuit" is sometimes used to mean a real chemical-protection suit, as well as fictional.

• Boilersuit
• NBC suit
• Hazmat suit
• Bomb disposal suits
• Fire proximity suit
• Riding suits (abrasion-proof: made of leather, kevlar, ballistic nylon, cordura, etc., and waterproof)
• spacesuit
• Splash suit, to protect against splashing chemicals
• Wetsuit and drysuit
• Immersion suit

Other garments

• Zip-off Convertible Ventilated Trousers: These are pants styled in the zip-off fashion, where covers are removed from the lower section, exposing a mesh material on the lower leg. This allows the cooling and ventilation of shorts while providing the user the abrasion protection and appearance of regular pants. CVT's were originally designed for and are still predominantly used as work clothing, as the wearing of shorts is often prohibited for safety reasons in many industrial occupations.
• Body armor:
• bullet-proof vest
• Historical armor
• Futuristic powered armor.
• Apron (protects the body and other clothing from dirt) (also used as distinction by waiters)
• Nappy ("diaper" in American English)
• Motorcycle armor
• Protective vest
• Sun protective clothing
• Condom

Sets of equipment

• Chainsaw protection (especially a helmet with face guard, hearing protection, kevlar chaps, anti-vibration gloves, and safety boots). Specific information about chainsaw protection is given in the chainsaw safety clothing article.
• Bee keepers wear various levels of protection depending on the temperament of their bees and the reaction of the bees to nectar availability. At minimum most bee keepers wear a brimmed hat and a veil made of hardware cloth similar to window screen material. The next level of protection is offered by leather gloves with long gauntlets and by some way of keeping bees from crawling up one's trouser legs. In extreme cases, shirts and trousers are also fabricated to serve as barriers to the bees' stingers.
• Diving equipment (scuba gear)

Other personal protective equipment

• Lifejacket
• Hardhat mounted mirrors
• Fall-arrest equipment (i.e., if someone falls, to stop the fall without injury)
• Safety leash (to keep, e.g. a snowboard or surfboard within reach)
• Anti-rape female condom
• Chastity belt
• Warning equipment: flashing lights, reflective strips, reflectors, etc.
• High-visibility clothing (to ensure visibility to prevent accidents)

For horses

For equestrians, protection of their horses is not less important:

• Tail guard
• Polo wraps

See also

• Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs
• Hazmat
• Biohazard
• Bomb disposal
• Industrial clothing
• NBC suit
• Motorcycle safety clothing
• Chainsaw safety clothing