| Personal protective clothing: ensuring worker | | | | resulted in a growing emphasis on compliance with |
| safety | | | | health and safety regulations and performance |
| Personal protective clothing offers a practical | | | | standards for protective apparel and accessories. |
| solution to eliminating, or at least minimising, the | | | | Technological advances in the personal protective |
| risk of accidents, injuries or infection in the | | | | equipment (PPE) industry have led to the |
| workplace. More specifically, it provides an | | | | development of products which not only meet |
| effective safeguard against hazards such as | | | | these stringent performance standards but also |
| extreme temperatures, fire, potentially dangerous | | | | offer advances in comfort and style. Such |
| objects and harmful substances. The main | | | | advances have helped to increase the proportion |
| categories of protective clothing include chemical | | | | of end users who comply with health and safety |
| and hazardous material (hazmat) clothing, clean | | | | regulations. |
| room clothing, combat uniforms, cut resistant | | | | Looking ahead, one of the main challenges is that |
| workwear, flame resistant workwear, high visibility | | | | of cheap imports from Asia—many of which |
| apparel, medical protective clothing and | | | | do not comply with rigid specifications in the West. |
| multi-functional protective wear. Fibre types | | | | These are proving to be a menace for suppliers |
| employed include aramids, cotton, modacrylic, | | | | of high performance PPE and are limiting market |
| polyamide, polybenzimidazole (PBI), polypropylene, | | | | revenues for the industry as a whole. |
| ultra high molecular weight polyethylene | | | | Nonetheless, rising demand for high performance |
| (UHMWPE) and Vectran. Leading brands of fibres | | | | products which are user-friendly will help to drive |
| and fabrics used in protective clothing include | | | | growth in the market, and those companies which |
| Cordura Baselayer fabric, Gore Chempak | | | | are able to satisfy the need for increasingly |
| Selectively Permeable Fabric, Defender M, Kermel, | | | | sophisticated PPE should thrive as a result. PPE is a |
| Kevlar, Nomex, ProShield, Protera, Sungrazer, | | | | necessity rather than an option in many services |
| Tychem and Tyvek. ( ) | | | | and industries, notably those in which worker |
| Growing concerns about worker safety on the | | | | safety is at risk. The market should therefore |
| one hand and increasing instances of terror | | | | enjoy a viable future as legislation becomes more |
| attacks and epidemics on the other have raised | | | | stringent in developed countries, and as |
| awareness about the need for personal | | | | industrialisation progresses and legislation is |
| protection. This awareness, coupled with rising | | | | introduced in developing countries. |
| costs associated with workplace injuries, has | | | | |