Knife Resistant Clothing - An End to Injuries at Work?

Knife Resistant Clothing - An End to Injury atstrongest man-made fibres that is pound for
Work?pound 15 times stronger than steel and 40%
 stronger than DuPont’s Kevlar. 
Occupational health & safety professionalsSpectra® garments also have the great
and many frontline operations managers willadvantage of being concealable. This gives the
agree when I say that dealing directly with theadvantage that frontline staff do not appear
public is becoming a moreand more dangerousoverly confrontational, aggressive or authoritative.
and risky thing to do.I cannot emphasise enough how important this is.
Assaults and knife attacks on emergencyEspecially when dealing with intoxicated individuals
services personnel, nurses, social and health careunder the influence of drugs or alcohol.
workers, taxi and truck drivers are increasinglyI have personally noted a growing need for knife
common. When it comes to knife crime, it isand cut resistant clothing because many frontline
surprisingly difficult to quantify that danger. Inoperatives have recently indicated that they feel
terms of fatal stabbings, the Conservative Partyunsafe during their work.  Teachers, social and
in he UK have issued figures at the end of 2008health care workers, taxi drivers, fraud
claiming that there were more than five fatalinvestigators, BT and British Gas employees and
stabbings each week, yet the governmentmany others have expressed the fear they feel
disputed this, asserting that knives were not thewhen dealing with intoxicated, disrespectful or
only weapons used.hostile individuals. For these frontline staff stab
As a well respected security expert and personalvests are too confrontational, heavy or
safety consultant I have long advised key decisioninappropriate. Our Knife & Slash Resistant
makers within the public sector and health careClothing will offer them excellent protection from
departments that the risk of violent incidents canslashing - and that is better than no protection at
be reduced through a combination of bodyall.
language, effective training, calming behaviour andSpectra® lined high visibility vests, as well as
reducing theSpectra® lined gloves are our most recent
We at ASEO have spent a lot of time thinkingaddition to our vastly growing range of PPE, ideal
about this so very important issue andfor use by stewards involved in crowd control,
subsequently launched a range of discreetthe emergency services and those who handle
protective clothing to tackle this problem. Oursharp objects like broken glass, such as refuse
range features knife, slash and bite resistantcollectors, glass collectors, janitors and medical
clothing including both short and long sleevedstaff.
T-shirts, high visibility vests, sleeves, gloves andRobert Kaiser, CEO
other garments. All garments are manufacturedASEO visual staff must be protected.
using a material called Spectra®, one of the