PPE compliance still failing workers despite solid safety programs, study finds

Personal protective equipment (PPE) programs are more established than ever across North American workplaces, yet workers continue to skip their gear at alarming rates, and a landmark annual study suggests the root causes are hiding in plain sight.

The 2026 PPE Pain Points Study, released by J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc. and the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA), found that more than two-thirds of organizations still struggle to get employees to consistently follow proper PPE protocols. Now in its fourth year, the collaborative research surveyed safety professionals across manufacturing, construction, transportation, and other sectors, painting a portrait of programs that look solid on paper but fracture at the behavioural level.

"PPE programs are in place," said Christy Panagakis, senior customer and market insights analyst at J. J. Keller & Associates. "Policies exist, training happens and expectations are communicated. But we're still seeing non-compliance issues."

The compliance gap is a culture and comfort problem

For the fourth consecutive year, compliance, comfort and fit, and cost emerged as the three dominant pain points for safety leaders.

The most common reasons employees gave for not using PPE properly were that they simply didn't want to wear it (56 per cent) or didn't think it was necessary (48 per cent). Discomfort ranked fourth at 37 per cent.

Those figures reveal a critical disconnect: organizations are communicating about PPE regularly, with 73 per cent of respondents reporting they talk with employees about requirements on a regular basis, yet the message isn't sticking. According to the study, the challenge isn't the frequency of those conversations; it's their quality.

Cam Mackey, president and CEO of ISEA, was direct on the point. "Using PPE appropriately isn't about guessing and it's not about defaulting to what we've always issued," he told webinar attendees. "It's about understanding the hazards first."

The study found that fewer than half of companies (45 per cent) involve employees in choosing their PPE, a gap that researchers tied directly to ongoing fit and compliance failures. Workers who help select their own gear, the data suggests, are far more likely to wear it.

Measuring the wrong things

One of the study's sharpest findings concerns how organizations measure PPE program success. Sixty-nine per cent of respondents rely primarily on incident and injury rates, a lagging indicator that only tells a safety team what went wrong after the fact.

Fewer than 60 per cent collect employee feedback on usability and comfort, which the study identifies as a leading indicator and a missed early warning system. Safety professionals looking to strengthen their PPE compliance strategies and program effectiveness should be building feedback loops that surface problems before injuries occur, not after.

Rachel Krubsack, compliance expert at J. J. Keller & Associates, outlined the critical distinction during the webinar. "Lagging indicators tell us where we got hurt," she said. "Leading indicators tell us where we're about to get hurt and give us a chance to intervene early."

Fit remains an equity issue

Sizing challenges are declining overall, with 83 per cent of organizations now able to source PPE in the sizes they need. But a persistent gap remains for women workers. Approximately 38 per cent of respondents reported difficulty finding PPE that properly fits female employees, a figure that carries safety implications beyond inconvenience.

The study cited research from the Safety and Health Empowerment for Women in Trades indicating women are more likely than men to report ill-fitting PPE but are also more likely to stay silent about it for fear of being labeled a complainer or facing layoff.

Notably, the data showed that companies with consistent employee communication practices experienced far less difficulty sourcing proper-fitting PPE for women. Only 33 per cent of organizations that regularly talk with their employees reported this as a challenge, compared to 50 per cent of those with inconsistent communication practices. For Canadian safety leaders working toward more inclusive workplace safety programs, the lesson is clear: dialogue is a direct intervention.

Tariffs introduce a new safety risk

The 2026 edition expanded its scope to examine tariff impacts on PPE programs for the first time. Sixty-five per cent of respondents reported no changes to their programs due to tariff pressures from late 2025 into 2026. But among those who did adjust, 10 per cent reported using PPE longer than recommended or choosing lower levels of protection to offset rising costs.

That figure aligns closely with an ISEA economic modelling study, which found that a 10 per cent reduction in PPE deployment risks 143 additional workplace fatalities and approximately 46,800 injuries annually, costing the economy over $2.2 billion. (ISEA, "The Impacts of Tariff-Induced Price Spikes on PPE & American Workers.")

The parallel to Canadian workplaces is significant. As global supply chain pressures affect procurement budgets, safety leaders should be aware that cost-cutting decisions on PPE carry a measurable human toll. Resources on managing PPE budgets without compromising worker protection are increasingly essential for occupational health and safety professionals navigating this landscape.

Smart PPE adoption lags, but opportunity is growing

In another first for the study, researchers asked whether organizations were using smart PPE: equipment embedded with sensors, RFID, Bluetooth, or real-time data collection capabilities. Only 5 per cent said yes, with 18 per cent unsure. The low adoption rate reflects barriers including cost, data privacy concerns, and integration challenges with existing safety systems.

Mackey framed smart PPE as a complement to, not a replacement for, strong foundational programs. "Smart PPE should support hazard assessments, PPE selection, and worker involvement," he noted during the webinar. "Not replace them."

Key takeaways for safety leaders

The 2026 PPE Pain Points Study points to several immediate actions for occupational health and safety professionals: validate hazard assessments by involving workers directly; prioritize comfort and fit over cost when selecting PPE; build feedback mechanisms that capture leading indicators rather than relying solely on injury data; and address sizing gaps proactively, particularly for women in the workforce.

The study's overarching message is one Canadian safety leaders will recognize: having a program in place is not the same as having an effective one.