Motivators and barriers to the use of personal protective equipment among custodians

Background and Objectives: Custodians encounter many hazards in their workplaces. Personal protective equipment (PPE) provides one way for custodians to protect themselves from workplace hazards. The objective of this study was to identify motivators and barriers to the use of PPE among custodians.

Methods: We employed a mixed methods approach including a cross-sectional survey and a series of focus groups to identify factors associated with the use of safety gloves, long-sleeved shirt/pants, non-slip shoes, safety glasses, and face mask/respirators among custodians. Custodians were recruited from three universities and one university-affiliated hospital; all state and contract workers employed at these agencies were eligible to participate. Chi-squared tests were used to investigate demographic and workplace factors associated with PPE use. Focus group data was analyzed qualitatively to identify themes.

Results: Most participants in this study wore safety gloves (75%) all of the time, while fewer participants wore other types of PPE frequently (all of the time non-slip shoes (47%), long-sleeved shirt/pants (33%), safety glasses (9%), face mask/respirator (8%)). Factors including having training on health hazards of cleaners were associated with increased PPE use based on the survey analysis.  Among other factors, participants identified PPE policies as affecting PPE use during focus groups.

Conclusions: While glove use was high, use of some other PPE was low among custodians. Increasing training and PPE policies may increase PPE use in this population.