Question:

We are considering issuing our engineers with hoodies rather than the jackets they have had for years. Have any other companies issued hoodies to their engineers? And if so, do they have anything in place in regard to the hood and cords being a snag hazard? For example, working on mixers etc? I’m sure someone somewhere will have a risk assessment for hood laces.

Replies:

1. They could always take the cord out – or shorten them!

2. I have worked in H&S for over 25yrs. Previously I worked in the printing industry, this involved working close to moving parts including rollers/chains/conveyers etc that were in movement when working on.
Dangling items of any kind can pull you into a machine if parts are moving. No loose clothing, chains around necks or other dangling items were permitted on safety grounds and the staff understood why.
If the Engineers will be anywhere near moving parts within machines, then for me this is 100% not a good idea. Also consider that many Engineers are lone working and cannot rely on others working nearby to help then turn off the machine in a timely manner.
It would only take one incident, near miss etc to happen and immediately this would have been deemed a very bad idea, and one incident is one too many.

3. All our field guys and office staff all wear hoodies, and to be honest the issue has never come up, especially in the scenario mentioned. A couple of our guys simply pulled the laces out of theirs as they irritated them which wasn’t a problem.

4. I have an engineer who will only wear a hoodie, but it has no ties and is always pulled down when on site as I am a bit against them looks-wise.
As with a jacket you would more often than not remove a garment before working on equipment.

5. It was once raised by engineers here as a consideration to upgrading our workwear/PPE. Usually more popular by the slightly younger demographic. We gave it some thought and fell just shy of producing any risk assessment, snag hazards on mixers, conveyors and even certain motors were discussed.
In the end we felt hoodies were not the image our company wanted to portray for looking professional on some of our more corporate sites.

6. We have hoodies; however, we have removed the strings.

7. We have the same issue; I have stopped buying them but now the engineers are complaining that they don’t like jumpers!  Would be interested if someone has a risk assessment, failing that take the hood cord out!