A human machine interface (HMI), a method of interacting with an HMI and a corresponding computer program product facilitate user interaction with an HMI. In a method, a face of a person attempting to interact with the HMI is detected and a gesture made by the person relative to the HMI is also detected. The method analyzes information regarding the face of the person that has been detected to determine whether the person is wearing personal protection equipment. In an instance in which the person is determined to not be wearing personal protection equipment, the method suspends a response to the gesture made by the person. However, in an instance in which the person is determined to be wearing personal protection equipment, the method analyzes the gesture made by the person relative to the HMI and converts the gesture to a corresponding command to the system associated with the HMI.