April 2025
PPE Challenges Persist: Durability, Budget Constraints, and Compliance Remain Top Concerns
Companies continue to face challenges in securing high-quality, budget-friendly PPE, managing inventory, and ensuring consistent employee compliance, according to a recent J. J. Keller Center for Market Insights/ISEA survey.
Survey Highlights
Key findings from the survey — now in its third year — include:
• PPE Management Is Generally Strong. Of those responding to the survey, 95% completely or somewhat have the time and resources needed to properly assess PPE needs, and 70% talk with their employees regularly about PPE.
• Getting Employees to Always Wear PPE Continues to Be a Challenge. More than 75% of respondents reported that at least some of the time, they have difficulty getting employees to wear PPE.
• Durability is the Number One Criteria When Purchasing PPE. More than one-third of respondents prioritize durability, followed by comfort, emphasizing the need for PPE that workers can and will consistently wear.
• Challenges Occur in Finding PPE in Larger and Smaller Sizes. While 75% of respondents have not experienced problems buying PPE in the sizes they need, those who have had issues find difficulty locating larger and smaller sizes.
• Weather Is a Consideration, but There’s More Opportunity Here. While 84% of respondents factor weather conditions into PPE purchases, there is a growing need for more education on selecting PPE optimized for extreme temperatures.
• Women’s Sizing Are Increasingly Considered. More companies are prioritizing PPE designed for women, though nearly one-third of respondents still face challenges in finding properly fitting options.
• Training Is a Challenge. Nearly half of respondents struggle with training employees on critical PPE usage aspects, including when PPE is necessary, how to properly wear it, and its limitations.
FREE PPE PAIN POINTS STUDY WEBCAST 4/17/25
During this webcast, our experts will reveal the results from this survey and address how PPE plays a key part in successful safety programs. We’ll also talk about different challenges, as well as strategies to consider, when developing, purchasing, and training your employees on personal protective equipment.
Additional Findings
As in previous years, finding quality PPE within budget remains a challenge, especially with inflation. Respondents also struggle with maintaining sufficient PPE inventory.
For the first time, we asked how companies measure PPE program effectiveness—over 50% rely on incident rates or employee feedback, indicating a reactive approach. This indicates a need for proactive strategies and improved training to enhance PPE use and safety in the workplace.
Final Thoughts
By listening to safety managers’ greatest pain points when it comes to PPE management, we can share insights with regulators, safety professionals and industry – and thereby collectively find solutions to help you in your mission to send every employee home safely every day.
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