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Personal protective equipment (PPE) refers to protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garment designed to protect the wearer's body or clothing from injury by electrical hazards, heat, chemicals, and infection, for job-related occupational safety and health purposes, and in sports, martial arts, combat, etc. Personal armor is combat-specialized protective gear.
PPE can also be used to protect the working environment from pesticide application, pollution or infection from the worker (for example in a microchip factory).
The protection may be important in both ways, as with the use of disposable gloves by surgeons and dentists.
Protective clothing is also worn for contact sports, such as ice hockey and American football. Baseball players wear sliding shorts and a cup under their pants. See baseball clothing and equipment, goalie mask, jockstrap.
In British legislation the term PPE does not cover items such as armour.
Common protective materials include Nomex and Kevlar.
The terms "protective gear" and "protective clothing" are in many cases interchangeable; "protective clothing" is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and "gear" is a more general term and preferably means uniquely protective categories, such as pads, guards, shields, masks, etc.
For riding a motorcycle, protective headgear and eyegear are required by law in many countries.
Some masks made of hard material like those used by goaltenders in ice hockey (a goalie mask) and catchers in baseball as protection against being struck in the face.
See Eye protection.
Protective suit is an umbrella term for any suit or clothing which protects the wearer. Any specific design of suit may offer protection against biological and chemical chemical agents, particle radiation (alpha) and/or radiation (delta and gamma), and may offer flash protection in the case of bomb disposal suits. Most forms of industrial clothing are protective clothing. Personal protective equipment includes:
The word "chemsuit" is sometimes used to mean a real chemical-protection suit, as well as fictional.
For equestrians, protection of their horses is not less important: