Article - Participating in the Provision of Personal Protective Equipment


20 Aug 2020

Firstly, in a potentially hazardous or emergency situation, it is vitally important that the attending personnel are comprehensively furnished with the necessary personal protective equipment(commonly abbreviated and referred to “PPE” throughout the world). Such equipment pertains to and is typically required for the occupation-specific functions which they’re required to perform.

Indicative of Teams and Key Functions

Secondly, relevant personal protective equipment may additionally be required to indicate different teams, as well as each individual’s position and key job function within their specific team or group, thereby avoiding confusion or misunderstandings at a glance, whilst maximising efficiency and effectiveness.

Additional Level of Planned Protection

Accurate observation and identification, clear thinking, and optimal performance more often than not are crucial components of managing certain situations, whilst offering an additional level of planned protection to all associated parties within a defined, potentially hazardous, or harmful environment. Ideally, the adoption ofpersonal protective equipment may eliminate risks presented by substances or hazards entirely, but at least, such products must be capable of minimising adverse effects and repercussions of exposure.

Typical Personal Protective Equipment

Because of the worldwide emergence and manifestation of a new, potentially fatal infection, COVID-19, for which there is as yet no viable preventative vaccination, cure, or treatment, the widespread use of personal protective equipment is the only effective, essential method of containing and preventing the uninhibited spread of infection. Consequently, some of these products pertaining to coronavirus prevention and containment are deemed as essential.

However, in its broader normal usage, protective equipment that helps to safeguard the wearer’s various body parts and their clothing from harmful elements, infections and injury, or damage, consists of workwear, which includes:

  • Safety boots or similarly protective shoes
  • Gloves, which are relevant to various occupations and activities
  • Safety goggles and spectacles
  • Face masks and shields
  • Activity-specific aprons
  • Respirators with various filtering capabilities
  • Earplugs or sound-reducing ear muffs
  • Robust clothing and tough workwear
  • Helmets

Essential Personal Coronavirus Protection Gear

Since not all the products listed above as “normal” are deemed as “essential equipment”, which pertains to coronavirus infection containment. We at the XCO Group take this opportunity to reiterate a relevant list of essentials, because it is important to keep personal infection-preventing equipment and its usage top of mind and in practice, without becoming complacent during the long period of time that must pass before it’s safe again to do without such measures. Products include :

  • Disposable gloves.
  • Face masks and face shields.
  • Sanitisers, containing the required effective amount of alcohol, and disinfectants for hands and surfaces.
  • Dispensers of sanitising products.
  • Appropriate signage.
  • Office screens or trade-safe products.
  • No-touch thermometers for early detection of elevated body temperature, which may be an indication of the presence of coronavirus infection, plus the need to be professionally tested to confirm one’s associated status – clear and healthy, or infected and due for essential temporary isolation from others, until cleared of infection.

Conditions and Elements Requiring Personal Protection Measures

Here are some conditions and elements that require extra measures:

  • Epidemics and pandemics
  • The emergence of new and mutated infections, especially those of viral nature, without a known cure or truly effective treatment
  • Exposure to continuous excessive heat or cold temperatures
  • Physical hazards and physically challenging environments or tasks
  • Biohazards
  • Chemicals
  • Electrical hazards
  • Containment and extermination of fires
  • Water hazards below or on the surface of significant bodies of water
  • Airborne or deposited infectious particles
  • Toxins
  • Sanitised laboratory conditions
  • Surgical procedures
  • Cleaning and disinfecting

XCO Group’s Role in Combatting COVID-19

The XCO Group was established in Pretoria in 1987, as a single outlet and retailer of sportswear and associated sports equipment. At the time, no one could ever have predicted that we would one day, in the future, become involved in joining the fight and contributing to help combat a potentially fatal, new viral infection of pandemic proportions. No one would imagine that there would be no vaccine or a cure available for those already infected at the particular time of the outbreak and rapid transmission of the viral infection – late 2019 and in 2020, possibly even beyond.

Nevertheless, the XCO Group steadily grew and expanded its chosen fields of expertise and specialisation to that which we offer our customers today.

Now, we’re a leading manufacturer, supplier, online catalogue wholesaler, and custom branding specialist of personalised corporate clothing, team and workwear, corporate gifting, and promotional items, plus essentialpersonal protective equipment – to the corporate sector. Moreover, we’ve continued to provide corporate customers with our virus-prevention products via our online and telephone systems throughout this awful pandemic, despite early or intermittent supply challenges.

Back to articles