PPE at Work Regulations: What Changed in 2022
In 2022 the rules on personal protective equipment quietly widened to cover a much larger slice of the British workforce. If you manage people, the change is small in wording but significant in reach — and it is worth understanding exactly what shifted and why.
The regulation in plain English
The core law is the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992. For three decades, these regulations placed duties on employers to provide suitable PPE to their employeeswherever risks could not be controlled by other means. They sit alongside the broader duties in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA 1974), which requires employers to protect anyone affected by their work.
On 6 April 2022, the regulations were amended by the Personal Protective Equipment at Work (Amendment) Regulations 2022. The headline change was deceptively simple: the duties no longer apply only to "employees" but to a wider category of workers.
What "limb (b) workers" actually means
UK employment law splits the workforce into broad groups. "Limb (a)" workers are employees with a contract of employment in the traditional sense. "Limb (b)" workers are people who carry out work personally under a contract but who are not employees in the strict sense — think casual staff, some agency workers, and certain gig and short-contract arrangements.
Before 2022, the PPE regulations only captured limb (a) employees. The amendment extended the same protections to limb (b) workers, closing a gap that had left many people doing genuinely hazardous work without a clear statutory right to free, suitable PPE.
The principle is straightforward: if someone faces a risk while doing your work, the duty to protect them should not hinge on the fine print of their contract.
For most responsible employers this changes little in practice — good organisations already equipped everyone on site. But it removes any ambiguity, and it means that engagers who previously treated casual workers differently must now provide and maintain PPE for them on the same terms.
PPE is the last resort, not the first move
One thing the 2022 amendment did not change is the place PPE occupies in good risk management. PPE protects only the individual wearing it, only when it is worn correctly, and only for as long as it stays in good condition. That makes it the weakest of the control measures — which is why the law treats it as a final layer, not a first response.
The hierarchy of control
The HSE expects employers to work through a hierarchy before reaching for PPE. In descending order of effectiveness, the steps are:
- Eliminate the hazard entirely — remove the dangerous task, substance or process.
- Substitute it with something less harmful.
- Apply engineering controls such as guarding, extraction or isolation.
- Use administrative controls — safe systems of work, training, signage and job rotation.
- Only then, provide PPE to manage the residual risk that remains.
In short, PPE catches what the higher controls cannot. Understanding this hierarchy is the foundation of choosing the right PPE for a given job, because the equipment must be matched to the specific residual hazard rather than chosen out of habit.
️ Key takeaways
- The PPE at Work Regulations 1992 were amended on 6 April 2022.
- Duties now extend to limb (b) workers, not just employees.
- Employers must provide suitable PPE free of charge and keep it maintained.
- PPE remains the last resort — work through the hierarchy of control first.
- The amendment sits alongside duties under HSWA 1974.
What employers should do now
If you have not reviewed your arrangements since the change, a short audit is worthwhile. Confirm that everyone who carries out your work — not just contracted employees — receives suitable PPE without being charged for it. Check that the equipment is assessed for suitability, maintained in good order, stored properly and replaced when worn. And make sure people are trained to use it, because equipment that is misused or left unworn offers no protection at all.
The distinction between who provides and who wears, and the duties on each side, is set out clearly in our guide to PPE employer and employee duties. It is a useful companion to this article if you are tightening up your own policies.
PPE training from £23
Self-paced, HSE-aligned, certificate the same day — £23 per person.
The bottom line
The 2022 amendment did not reinvent PPE law; it widened the safety net so that more workers are clearly protected. Combine that wider duty with the discipline of the hierarchy of control, and you have a sound approach: control risk at source wherever you can, and use well-chosen, well-maintained PPE to handle whatever danger genuinely cannot be designed out. Training staff so they understand both the why and the how is the final piece that turns a compliant policy into a culture that actually keeps people safe.
