Who pays for PPE UK: free when the job still needs it

You have been told to bring your own safety glasses on Monday, and the who pays for PPE UK question is sitting in that instruction. On a Great Britain site the answer follows the risk assessment. If chips, splash, or dust can still reach the eye after the other controls, HSE's public guidance says the employer provides suitable eye protection free of charge, under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992. From 6 April 2022 that duty also covers limb (b) workers.

We read those HSE pages, SI 2022/8, and the safety-glasses listings captured on amazon.co.uk on 19 October 2026. We did not run an impact test. This is a reading of public guidance. Links use the tag pcuk26-21. A qualifying purchase through our links can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

In short

Limb (b) workers have been inside the same free duty since 6 April 2022. Someone self-employed and in business on their own account, and anyone doing DIY at home, pays for their own glasses. Free still means suitable: the right shape, a fit you can wear for the shift, and a lens you can see through.

When the employer pays

The PPE at work regulations put eye protection on the employer once a risk assessment shows the eyes are still exposed. Guards, screens, extraction, and a safer way of doing the job come first. Glasses are what remains. When the assessment still names eye protection, the employer provides a suitable pair in time for the task, with somewhere to keep it and enough instruction that you know how it should sit.

HSE's L25 guidance treats a deeply scratched lens, or a frame that has bent, as finished, so replacement is part of keeping the provision suitable. A pair left in a van, with nobody shown how to adjust the arms, has been purchased and has not yet been provided. Section 9 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 stops a charge for required PPE, and the 2022 amendment carries that free provision across to limb (b) workers. The HSE pages used here describe Great Britain. A workplace in Northern Ireland is an HSENI question, and this article does not restate that code.

Limb (b) workers since 6 April 2022

SI 2022/8 took effect on 6 April 2022 and extended the 1992 duties to limb (b) workers. HSE describes a limb (b) worker as someone who undertakes to do the work personally, where the other party is not a client or customer of a business that the worker runs. The test comes from section 230 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. A zero-hours week or an invoice can still be limb (b) work if you must do the job yourself and the firm is not your customer. From 6 April 2022 that person receives the same suitable PPE, free, as an employee, including eye protection when the eyes remain at risk.

Many agency workers are employees of the agency, and that employer provides the PPE. Where the contract is limb (b) with the hirer, the 2022 duty sits with the hirer. If two firms each point at the other, write down who you contract with and ask that firm. A carpenter who prices their own jobs and takes householders as customers stays outside the extension. Limb (b) days for a firm, and your own customers on Saturday, split the same way: the firm's days carry the firm's glasses.

Self-employed work and the home bench

If you are in business on your own account, self-employed safety glasses are a cost of the job. HSE's 2022 page keeps that status outside the amended employer duty. The householder who booked you has not become the employer under these regulations, so put the glasses in the price you quote. Home DIY is the same wallet. There is no employer on a Sunday at your own saw or under your own car. The who pays for PPE UK answer at home is you.

In the set captured on 19 October 2026, the top pick is the NoCry EyeArmor+ in black and green, ASIN B01AWK1XAS, at £13.99. It is a 28 g polycarbonate pair, the ASINs match, and the 4.4 from 61,350 is shared with the black and red pair. The table prints no EN 166 line, and reviews say the curve will not go over ordinary glasses. The best-value row is the Ansell KleenGuard Nemesis, ASIN B0FXY1HFXX, at £8.14 for one 30 g pair, with matching ASINs and 4.3 from 315 reviews. The bullet names CSA model 20378, and visible light transmission is listed at 50 per cent. Self-employed on Saturday does not cancel a limb (b) Tuesday. If Tuesday's assessment still needs eye protection, Tuesday's pair comes from the firm.

A suitable pair is the whole duty

Free safety glasses from the employer are the pair the hazard and your face both accept. The duty is silent on brand. Once the issued pair matches the risk, fits, and works with the rest of the PPE, a preference for another colour is your own spend. A pair that pinches, lifts the hard hat, or sits on the glasses you need in order to see is an unsuitable issue. Say so the same shift. The employer then provides another size, a fit-over, or prescription safety lenses. Everyday spectacles are your own optical care. The safety glasses for people who wear glasses comparison is the shelf for frames that have to clear a prescription.

Spectacles with temples cover the front and the side and leave a gap. They are the usual answer to flying chips. Liquid splash, fine dust, or a rim that has to meet the face is a goggle, and a faceshield is a third product. A free spectacle issued for a splash job has missed the duty. The shape choice is on safety glasses versus goggles, and a sealed dust job is on the dust goggles comparison. A pair already marked EN 166 stayed lawful when EN 166:2001 lost its presumption of conformity for new certification on 11 November 2025. In the twelve listings captured on 19 October 2026, the tables almost never print EN 166 or EN ISO 16321. An employer who must name a standard needs the letters on the plastic.

What a wage deduction changes

A payslip line, a deposit that never returns, an order you place and swallow, or a starter pack you fund before you are allowed on the tools charges for PPE the assessment requires. HSE's account of the PPE regulations 2022 extends the free provision in section 9 to limb (b) workers. A signed sheet that says you accept the charge does not switch the section off.

Replacement follows condition, which is L25's test. A deeply scratched lens or a bent frame is finished, and the next suitable pair is issued. Keep a copy of any deduction and of what you signed, and take that paperwork to Acas or a competent adviser if the money has already left. A pair lost away from site, or a frame broken on purpose, can become a separate contract argument. That argument does not authorise a standing charge for everyone.

Buying a pair when the bill is yours

When you are the payer, name the hazard, read the letters on the lens and the frame, try the fit, and only then look at the price per pair. That order is the safety glasses buying guide. The twelve-row table is the safety glasses comparison. Captured shelf prices on 19 October 2026 run from £4.13 to £42.99, and several figures are packs. £4.13 is the Honeywell A800 price on a page whose details ASIN does not match the URL. £42.99 is a DTD line a reviewer reads as about thirty pairs. Divide a carton after the page states the count.

Skip a spectacle when the job is splash or a dust seal. Stars do not stand in for a mark. An employer buying stock uses the same order and still pays. An unmarked batch is a reason to stop before issue. If you are an employee or a limb (b) worker, buying a pair to get through the gate records a missing issue. Check the live amazon.co.uk price on the day, because these pounds are the 19 October 2026 capture.