OSHA

• The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires employers to take steps to reduce workplace hazards. Your employer can eliminate or reduce risks by putting physical barriers -- such as walls -- between workers and hazardous materials or by putting fences around rooftops. If such measures prove inadequate, then your employer must also provide you with personal protective equipment. A company may require headgear to protect you from falling objects, special suits to protect your skin from exposure to hazardous materials, and other accessories such as gloves, goggles and boots.
  
  

Hazards

• Your employer must regularly conduct workplace hazard assessments during which different types of hazards are identified. Over time, new risks may emerge, in which case your employer may require you to start wearing new types of personal protective equipment. However, your employer cannot arbitrarily buy safety equipment; hard hats, goggles, boots and other types of personal protective equipment must meet minimum OSHA standards. For example, if electrocution is a potential hazard in your workplace, your employer violates federal law if you are not equipped with a hard hat that protects you from electric shocks. Employers must regularly check protective gear and replace defective or ill-fitting clothing and equipment.
  
  

Pay

• Under provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, your employer must pay you for the time that you spend changing into protective clothing at work. Many types of protective gear, such as boots and hats are classified as equipment, rather than clothing, and you are entitled to a wage for time spent putting on this equipment. However, rules pertaining to actual clothing are ambiguous, and several courts have released contradictory opinions on the issue of whether your employer must pay you for the time it takes you get dressed in protective clothing. Most legal experts agree, however, that an employer should pay you if you need to dress in certain clothing to carry out your work.
  
  

Insurance

• Laws in many states require employers to purchase insurance policies, including liability insurance. This insurance protects the employer from lawsuits stemming form workplace injuries but also ensures that workers will receive compensation even if the employer lacks the cash to settle a case. Many insurance contracts include stipulations requiring workers to dress in protective clothing or to cover their hair to reduce their exposure to workplace risks. Your employer's rules on wearing protective clothing are often tied to insurance coverage, as well as federal laws.