PPE: Who Pays and Who's Responsible?
Does your boss pay for your safety boots? Must you wear the gloves they hand you? PPE law splits the duties neatly between employer and worker — here is exactly who is responsible for what.
Two sides of one duty
Personal protective equipment only works when both employer and worker play their part. The law reflects this with duties on each side. Under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended in 2022) and the broader Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers carry the heavy lifting — providing, assessing and maintaining equipment — while workers carry clear duties to use it properly and report problems. Understanding who is responsible for what removes a surprising amount of friction on site.
What the employer must do
Provide PPE free of charge
This is the rule that catches people out most often: where PPE is needed, the employer must provide it at no cost to the worker. It cannot be deducted from wages, and workers cannot be asked to buy their own. The 2022 amendment widened who is covered by this duty, extending it beyond employees to a broader category of workers, as we cover in our explainer on the PPE at Work Regulations.
If a job genuinely requires protective equipment, paying for it is the employer's responsibility — full stop.
Assess and select suitable equipment
Before issuing PPE, the employer must assess whether it is suitable for the risk, the conditions and the individual. That means considering the hazard, the fit, and whether different items can be worn together without one undermining another.
Maintain, store and replace
Provision is not a one-off. Employers must keep PPE in good working order through inspection, cleaning, repair and replacement, and provide proper storage so equipment is not damaged between uses. Worn or defective items must be taken out of service.
Inform, instruct and train
Workers need to know why PPE is required, what its limitations are, and how to wear, check and store it. Training is not optional courtesy — it is part of making the equipment effective and is a core employer duty.
️ Key takeaways
- Employers must provide required PPE free of charge.
- They must assess suitability, then maintain, store and replace it.
- Employers must train workers in correct use and limitations.
- Workers must use PPE as instructed and look after it.
- Workers must report loss, damage or defects promptly.
What the worker must do
The duties are not all one way. Once suitable PPE is provided and the worker is trained, the law expects them to play their part. Workers must:
- Use the equipment as instructed and trained, every time it is required.
- Take reasonable care of it — store it properly and keep it clean.
- Carry out basic checks before use and not rely on visibly damaged kit.
- Report any loss, damage or defectto the employer so it can be repaired or replaced.
- Not misuse equipment provided for their protection.
A worker who is issued correct, well-fitting PPE and then chooses not to wear it is undermining the whole system — and may be in breach of their own duties under HSWA 1974.
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Where responsibility meets practice
In day-to-day terms, the cleanest arrangement is simple: the employer makes sure the right equipment is available, fitted, maintained and understood, and the worker uses it and flags anything wrong. Problems usually arise in the grey areas — uncomfortable kit that gets left off, defects that go unreported, or new starters who were never shown how to use what they were given.
The fix is rarely more equipment; it is better selection and better communication. Getting the choice right in the first place, as set out in our guide to choosing the right PPE, makes compliance far easier, because comfortable, well-fitting equipment that suits the task is the equipment people actually wear.
It also helps to keep simple records. A short log of what PPE was issued, when it was inspected, and when faults were reported and resolved gives an employer evidence that duties are being met and gives workers confidence that their concerns are acted upon. None of this needs to be elaborate — a checklist and a clear point of contact for reporting problems are often enough to keep a programme honest.
Charges are the one area worth watching closely. Beyond the headline rule that PPE must be free, employers should be careful not to recover the cost indirectly through deposits or replacement fees for normal wear and tear. The principle is that the worker should never be out of pocket for equipment the job requires them to wear.
The bottom line
PPE is a shared responsibility with a clear division of labour. Employers pay for it, choose it, maintain it and teach people to use it; workers wear it, care for it and report faults. When both sides hold up their end — and the equipment is genuinely fit for purpose — protective equipment does exactly what it is meant to do.
