# PPE Replacement Intervals: How Often Should Each Item Be Renewed? From hard hats to harnesses, gloves to earplugs — typical service lives of personal protective equipment and how to turn them into a stock plan. Published: 2026-08-04 · Last updated: 2026-09-30 · 5 min read ## Contents 1. Short answer 2. Typical service lives, item by item 3. From calendar to stock plan: three steps 4. Frequently Asked Questions 5. Sources 6. Send your needs list — your quote is ready within 1 business day. ## How often does PPE need replacing? Turkish legislation sets **no fixed replacement interval per item** — the test is whether the protective function still holds. The planning ranges we use (our assumptions, not legal deadlines): hard hat **3–5 years** from date of manufacture, safety glasses **6–24 months**, safety footwear **6–12 months** on heavy sites (12–24 in office or warehouse use), earmuff cushion sets **6–12 months**, work gloves weekly to monthly depending on the task, disposable FFP masks and earplugs **every shift**. Fall-arrest harnesses follow the manufacturer’s instructions and are scrapped after any fall, regardless of age. In most businesses PPE is bought “when it runs out”. Yet much PPE doesn’t run out — **it ages**: a hard hat consumes its life even sitting in a cupboard, a harness is scrap after a single fall, an FFP respirator has done its job by the end of the shift. Knowing replacement intervals underpins both legal compliance and a sane purchasing plan. > Framing that matters: under Türkiye’s Occupational Health and Safety Law no. 6331 and the PPE regulations, providing suitable equipment, tracking its life and replacing expired items is **the employer’s duty**. The intervals below are our planning assumptions, based on manufacturer declarations — not legal deadlines; **what binds you is the manufacturer’s declaration for the exact product you use**. ## Typical service lives, item by item ### Hard hats For industrial helmets (EN 397) manufacturers commonly recommend **3-5 years from the date of manufacture** — some split it as “3 years in use, up to 2 in storage”. The moulding date is stamped under the brim; it’s the first thing an auditor checks. UV, sweat and heat shorten life. **Any helmet that has taken an impact is replaced immediately**, visible damage or not. Renewing the inner harness yearly is a cheap, common reinforcement. ### Safety eyewear and face shields A scratched lens degrades both vision and protection class — replace on scratching. In heavy use, practical life runs **6 months to 2 years**; anti-fog coatings weaken with each wash. ### Respiratory protection FFP1/FFP2/FFP3 filtering half masks are **single-shift items**; anything marked “NR” (non-reusable) doesn’t carry to the next day. Reusable half/full-face masks last years, but **filters and cartridges** have both shelf life and in-use limits — once opened, manufacturers typically want them consumed within 1-6 months. ### Gloves For mechanical-protection gloves (EN 388) the calendar is irrelevant — **wear decides**: puncture, thinning, opened seams → replace. On busy sites that’s a matter of weeks, so plan gloves by **monthly consumption norm**, not by piece. For chemical gloves (EN ISO 374-1/-5) the manufacturer’s **permeation/breakthrough time** per chemical is what counts — past it, an intact-looking glove no longer protects. ### Hearing protection Foam earplugs are **single-use**. On earmuffs, cushions and foam inserts harden within **6-12 months**; a hygiene kit costs far less than a new muff. ### Work at height — harnesses and lanyards This group needs the tightest discipline. Fall-arrest equipment is **Category III PPE, not work equipment**, so the periodic-inspection schedule in the work-equipment regulation does not cover it. The regulation itself sets no interval: the Turkish regulation on the use of PPE at work (art. 6/1-e) requires PPE to be maintained, repaired and periodically checked, and the interval comes from the manufacturer’s instructions and TS EN 365, which call for **inspection by a competent person at least every 12 months**, with records kept. Manufacturers typically declare a maximum life of **up to ~10 years from manufacture** for textile harnesses and lanyards (heavy use shortens it drastically). **A harness that has arrested a fall is destroyed after that single event.** ### Safety footwear On S1P/S3 footwear, sole wear, lost waterproofing and toe impacts set the limit: typically **6-12 months** in heavy site use, 12-24 months in mixed office/warehouse duty. A toe cap that has taken a serious impact is considered spent. ### High-visibility clothing Reflective stripes dim with washing; manufacturers declare a **maximum wash count** (often 25-50). A faded, greyed vest no longer meets EN ISO 20471. ## From calendar to stock plan: three steps 1. **Keep issue records with dates** — who received what, when; add manufacture dates for helmets and harnesses. A simple table suffices. 2. **Extract consumption norms** for consumable PPE (gloves, masks, plugs) from 2-3 months of data, per person per month. 3. **Anchor lifed items to an annual renewal calendar** — bulk renewal of helmets, harnesses and footwear at fixed anniversaries cuts prices and keeps the audit file tidy. AKSCO supplies every item above through the [safety & PPE category](https://aksco.com.tr/en/products/safety-ppe/), and for regular customers we tie renewal cycles into the quoting routine: [let’s price your annual PPE plan together](https://aksco.com.tr/en/request-a-quote/), straight from your list and issue records. PPE replacement planning reference | Item | Standard | AKSCO planning assumption | Replace earlier if | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Safety helmet | EN 397 | 3–5 years from date of manufacture | Impact, crack, colour fading | | Safety eyewear | EN ISO 16321-1 (formerly EN 166) | 6–24 months (planner default 12) | Scratching, wear that distorts vision | | Work gloves | EN 388 | Weekly to monthly, depending on the task | Puncture, cut, torn lining | | Safety footwear | EN ISO 20345 | 6–12 months on heavy sites, 12–24 in office/warehouse use | Sole wear, deformed toe cap | | Ear defenders | EN 352-1 | Cushion set 6–12 months; shell per manufacturer (planner default 24) | Hardened cushions, slackened headband | | Earplugs, disposable | EN 352-2 | Every shift | — | | Earplugs, reusable (corded / banded) | EN 352-2 | Per manufacturer’s instructions | Immediately on deformation, hardening or loss of hygiene | | FFP mask | EN 149 (NR) | Single shift | Increased breathing resistance, deformation | | Fall-arrest harness | EN 361 | Per manufacturer’s declaration | Immediately after any fall, regardless of age | | High-visibility vest | EN ISO 20471 | By the maximum wash count on the label (planner default 12 months) | Loss of tape brightness | Turkish legislation sets no fixed replacement interval item by item — the test is whether the protective function still holds. The intervals above are AKSCO’s planning assumptions, based on manufacturer declarations, for budgeting and stock — not legal deadlines or survey results; the manufacturer’s declaration and the condition of the item always take precedence. ## Frequently Asked Questions ## Sources 1. Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 — Official Gazette 30 June 2012, no. 28339 (the employer’s duty to provide PPE and keep it serviceable) 2. Regulation on the Use of Personal Protective Equipment at Workplaces — Official Gazette 2 July 2013, no. 28695 3. Personal Protective Equipment Regulation — Official Gazette 1 May 2019, no. 30761 (alignment with Regulation (EU) 2016/425; the manufacturer’s duty to state storage, service life and obsolescence in the instructions) 4. EN 397 — Industrial safety helmets (CEN; the standard text is copyrighted) 5. EN 388 — Protective gloves against mechanical risks: abrasion, cut, tear and puncture performance levels (CEN) 6. EN ISO 20345 — Personal protective equipment: safety footwear and the SB/S1–S7 classes (CEN–ISO) 7. EN 149 — Respiratory protective devices: filtering half masks; FFP1/FFP2/FFP3 classes (CEN) 8. EN ISO 374-1 / -5 — Protective gloves against dangerous chemicals and micro-organisms (CEN/ISO); the old “EN 374” designation is withdrawn 9. EN 365 — PPE against falls from a height: general requirements for use, maintenance, periodic examination, repair and marking (CEN) 10. Note: no Turkish regulation sets a calendar replacement interval for PPE. The intervals on this page are drawn from manufacturers’ instructions and from wear in use; what binds you is the instruction sheet of the item you actually hold. How we choose sources, verify figures and date our pages is set out in [how we source and verify what we publish](https://aksco.com.tr/en/editorial-standards/). Spotted an error? Write to [info@aksco.com.tr](mailto:info@aksco.com.tr) — verified errors are corrected. Does a helmet age even while boxed in storage? Yes — life counts from the manufacture date; plastics age even in good storage, which is why manufacturers state a separate (shorter) storage allowance. Asking for recent production dates at purchase is good practice. Are PPE replacement intervals fixed one-by-one in law? No. The law obliges the employer to provide PPE that remains functional; specific intervals come from manufacturer declarations and your risk assessment. The regulations set no interval either: they require PPE to be maintained and periodically checked, and for fall-arrest harnesses and lanyards the manufacturer’s instructions and TS EN 365 call for a competent-person inspection at least every 12 months — that is how the annual check becomes binding. Which records should we keep? Issue forms (person, item, date), manufacture dates for lifed equipment, and inspection reports plus replacement dates for items subject to periodic control. Those three close the file at audit. Different brands declare different lives — what do we plan around? Around the declaration of the product you actually use. Consolidating PPE purchasing with one supplier reduces brand sprawl, so one set of intervals and one set of spare parts (harnesses, hygiene kits, filters) covers the fleet. Is the replacement interval counted from purchase or from manufacture? From the date of manufacture, not from the date you bought it or first issued it. This matters most for helmets: a helmet that sat two years in a distributor’s warehouse has already used part of its life before it reaches your store. Ask for the manufacturing date on delivery and record it on the issue sheet, otherwise the planning interval cannot be applied. Does an item have to be replaced the moment the interval expires? No — and the reverse is also true. The interval is a planning figure, not a legal deadline: an item whose protective function is intact may stay in service past it, while an item that has taken an impact, been cut or deformed is scrapped immediately regardless of age. The early-replacement column above is what actually decides. ## Send your needs list — your quote is ready within 1 business day. Quotes are free of charge and carry no purchase obligation. Requests received during business hours (Mon–Fri, 09:00–18:00 Türkiye time, UTC+3) are processed the same day; those arriving outside them go to the front of the queue the next business morning. [Request a Quote ](https://aksco.com.tr/en/request-a-quote/) Average first response: same business day --- AKSCO Ticaret ve Tedarik — https://aksco.com.tr AKSCO Ticaret ve Tedarik · Esentepe Mah. Talat Paşa Cad. No:5 İç Kapı No:1, Şişli/İstanbul Türkiye'nin 81 ili ve uluslararası sevkiyat info@aksco.com.tr · 0534 335 69 22