## 1 Introduction  
Currently, the rate of fatal accidents and non-fatal injuries in construction is significantly high, and the construction industry is still one of the most hazardous industries in most countries [1, 2]. Currently, the rate of fatal accidents and non-fatal injuries in construction is significantly high compared to other industries. The safety accidents that occurred on the jobsite are a crucial issue in a large number of nations all over the world, and the frequent accidents and injuries had a strong impact on various aspects of workers' health [3, 4]. The safety accidents on the jobsite are caused by the hazardous and complex working environment, and the labor crews and the environment interact with each other in different ways [5, 6]. As the construction industry is a labor-intensive industry, a large number of work crews need to execute the activities using hand tools. During the execution process, ineffective and inadequate safety management measures may lead to the loss of labor productivity, cost overruns, and time delays [7, 8]. One of the most widely used and effective safety measures on the jobsite is the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE), which helps labor crews overcome safety challenges [9]. OSHA regulations emphasize that workers should wear essential PPE, such as hard hats, respirators, eye protection, protective hearing devices, gloves, and full body suits, to protect themselves from exposure to hazardous components, structures, and space [10]. However, due to the lack of the adequate use and proper planning of PPE in construction projects, these crucial safety interventions cannot be performed effectively on site, and accidents still frequently occur in construction projects [9]. One of the reasons for the ineffectiveness of safety management is the inadequate planning of PPE. Labor crews on the jobsite face challenges in selecting the suitable type of PPE and occasionally neglect to use PPE. On one hand, some workers feel uncomfortable executing tasks wearing PPE, so the task execution process with PPE may decrease labor productivity. As a result, a reluctance of some work crews to properly use PPE still occurs. On the other hand, the current PPE planning methods are not sufficient to prevent accidents. Considering that there are a variety of PPE types, it is a complex issue for safety managers and planners to select the most suitable equipment for work crews on the jobsite. Therefore, it is crucial to plan and choose a PPE system from the project manager's perspective, and planners should take the complex execution environment into account during the preconstruction phase of the project. Therefore, effective PPE planning for construction projects is significant in preventing safety accidents and injuries. This manifests as the importance of suitable PPE planning solutions for practical safety management to deal with the dynamic and complex environment. Few related studies have been reported about PPE plan selection for construction projects or focused on the decision-making methods of PPE plans. In this research, an integrated model involving ANP and fuzzy VIKOR approaches for PPE plan selection is proposed. Firstly, the ANP method is utilized to determine the criterion weights in the PPE assessment. Then, the fuzzy VIKOR approach is used to prioritize the potential PPE plans. The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive model for determining the most appropriate PPE plan for construction projects, considering a set of assessment criteria for PPE performance evaluation. The main contributions of this paper are the following:  
* Development of a novel model for assessing PPE plans, taking multiple conflicting assessment criteria into account. The importance of criteria is determined using the ANP approach, and therefore, a criteria hierarchy structure involving the identified main criteria and sub-criteria is established for weight calculation. * Performance evaluation of potential PPE plans integrating fuzzy set theory and the VIKOR approach.