Dressed for success
The market for personal protective equipment is booming, with space-age fabrics and intelligent garments leading the way
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is the last resort when it comes to protecting workers from harm. Yet anyone who has regularly worn PPE will know how easy it is for complacency to set in: the clothing may be hot and restrictive, an ill-fitted hard hat may be uncomfortable, not to mention ineffectual, while items such as gloves and face-masks may get lost. It can be only too easy to think such equipment is unnecessary for a short task. But when working in potentially explosive and hazardous environments, it only takes a couple of minutes for accidents to happen, resulting in major injuries or worse.
Most terminal operators are well aware of the need to provide the right equipment alongside the appropriate training and education.
Manufacturers and suppliers are equally keen to promote the education angle in order to build awareness of their product in an increasingly competitive marketplace. This is a growing market. In the US alone, the PPE market is estimated to be worth some $4.5 billion (€3 billion) by 2012, driven by an average annual growth rate of 6.6%, while in the EU, the PPE market is reckoned to be €10 billion, with the potential to grow by about 50% in the coming years. In January 2008 the EC named protective textiles as one of six lead markets that will benefit from its Lead Markets Initiative, designed to remove barriers to innovation and growth.
But there is competition for market share, with manufacturers and suppliers in Asia eying the increasingly lucrative PPE markets. ‘Low priced products from east Asia are being perceived as a major threat by European manufacturers and require efforts to build quality conscious customer loyalties to avoid substitution,’ says an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, author of the report Western European Markets for Industrial Protective Clothing. Frost & Sullivan says manufacturers need to promote product features and quality over price. Quality PPE products are not cheap, but for many oil and gas companies the cost is secondary to the fact the garment meets stringent industry regulations.
