You’ve heard the saying “penny wise and pound foolish” — but we don’t often notice when people are guilty of this kind of misjudgment. It happens all the time in individual households, and it happens just as often in business. One of the biggest examples of this kind of irrational judgment revolves around issuing personal protective equipment (PPE) to workers. Federal regulators like the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration provide guidelines that include giving workers access to proper and appropriate safety gear according to the work activities that are expected to be done on the job. Some of the most common forms of PPE include:

• Goggles
• Hard hats or helmets
• Work gloves
• Steel-toed shoes or boots
• Protective chemical suiting