MAKE SAFETY PAY

A good PPE Program reduces costs, improves productivity, increases profitability and contributes to the success of the company. But only if it is a complete program, consisting of the highest quality products, and value added services, from a "partner" supplier.

Dr. Rick Fulwiler, President of Technology Leadership Associates, and former long time Director of Health & Safety Worldwide for The Procter & Gamble Company, pioneered the concept of "Making Safety The Business of The Business" years ago. Since that time, forward looking PPE manufacturers looked for ways to enhance their offerings so that they transcend the basic protection function to improve the bottom line.

It may be easy to see how wearing PPE can reduce injuries and injury costs at the basic level. But it is not as easy to connect PPE to increased productivity, increased profitability and the over all success of the business. To begin to make those links, you have to consider the numbers. Each year over the past five years, injury frequency (the number of injuries) and severity (how bad the injuries were) decreased slightly. However, the cost of those injuries increased significantly putting additional pressure on already reduced profit margins. Industry is spending between $4 and $5 billion on PPE yet it still is incurring about $177 billion in injury costs. Research shows that 60% of those injured were wearing PPE supplied by their employer but it proved to be inadequate or inappropriate for the hazards of the job.

Therefore, improving the PPE buying decision, upgrading to a leading brand of top quality PPE and partnering with a supplier that can provide significant value added services is the first step in reducing injury costs. The latest data available shows the estimated cost of injuries for 2007:

PPE cannot stop accidents from happening. Every time an accident occurs there is a range of possible outcomes from a "Near Hit" to a "Fatality". Quality PPE, carefully selected and properly worn will move the outcome down the Injury Cost Pyramid from a potential fatality to a visit to the dispensary. The estimated cost of a fatality is $1.3 million; a lost time injury $43,000; a visit to the nurse for First Aid about $1,000. Every time the cost of an injury is reduced or eliminated, the savings drops straight to the bottom line.

The latest data shows that the average employer (it varies by industry) has about 4 injuries a year per 100 workers with them equally split between lost time (involving days off the job) and non-lost time. That means a company with 100 employees will incur at least $102,000 in injury costs every year. For a company operating with an 8% net profit margin, the profit on their first $1,275,000 worth of sales would go to just pay for their annual injury costs. Reducing that cost should be the goal of a PPE Program, not reducing the purchase price of the PPE. If upgrading to a top quality brand of PPE reduces just one injury, or moves the cost of an injury down the cost pyramid, it will pay for the upgrade many times over. Plug in your actual numbers to estimate what you could save.

A problem is most employers don't capture the savings realized when PPE prevents or reduces the cost of an injury. We suggest that Safety Officials maintain a "Save" log. Every time there is an incident, record how much was saved between the actual cost and the potential cost. Every First Aid case was a potential fatality. Every time an accident occurs the only difference between a near hit and a fatality is the outcome.

Upgrading to a quality PPE Program also has an impact on Workers Comp premiums. Workers Comp premiums are experience based. To reduce your premiums, you must reduce your injury costs relative to the average for your industry. Those savings also drop straight to the bottom line.

The cost saving potential for a PPE Program is dramatic. And so is the revenue enhancement potential. Not nearly as well understood or as obvious as the cost savings, PPE revenue enhancement comes from reducing downtime (a major cost to most companies), increasing productivity, and enhancing the quality of work life for employees. In many companies, downtime is second only to injury costs as a profit drain. It costs industry more than $10 billion a year; robs the average plant of nearly $400,000.

Dissatisfaction with poorly designed, ill fitting, uncomfortable PPE often manifests in frequent breaks, absenteeism, and stress, all leading causes of downtime. But quality PPE that can be worn throughout a shift without hindering, distracting or fatiguing the wearer will reduce downtime. It is well documented that a comfortable, confident, well protected worker can stay on the job longer, concentrate better, produce more with fewer rejects, reworks, defects or delays.

In today's lean workforce, each worker is incrementally more important. If one is injured, and misses time (the median time off for a lost time injury is 7 days), the productivity of the entire plant can be adversely affected.

PPE has a tremendous impact on the quality of work life which also affects productivity. Workers need to be confident that they will return home at the end of the day free of injury. They want to know that the company is doing everything possible to protect them and help them do their jobs to the best of their ability. Nothing says that better than providing only the very best PPE for the workforce. Each time an employee puts on his or her PPE it represents the companies commitment to his or her personal safety and productivity. An astronaut was once asked "are you afraid to be hurtled into space?". He replied "the only thing I am afraid of is being hurtled into space on 40,000 parts that all came from the lowest bidder!". Employees feel the same way about their PPE.

PPE's contribution to reducing downtime, increasing productivity, and improving the quality of work life directly increases profitability and the success of the business. Finally, don't over look the "opportunity" costs (the cost of not doing something). Each day you delay in upgrading your PPE Program, you miss the opportunity to reduce costs and improve profitability. "Make Safety Pay". Capture, document and communicate the contribution of your PPE Program to the success of your business.

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The data presented is based on aggregate estimates provided by The National Safety Council, The Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and various other sources. They are estimates and should not be taken as absolutes. For the best results plug your data into the framework presented here.

PPE IS ONE OF YOUR 10 MOST IMPORTANT "BUYS"

The CEO of a Top 50 construction company said "PPE is one of the top 10 "buys" my company makes so we focus on only the top brands". Interesting. But what is a "brand"? It is not just a well known brand name, or just a physical product. It is the sum total of your and others experiences with a manufacturer of PPE.

It begins with a product but extends to your experience with the suppliers sales person, customer service, marketing, physical distribution, invoicing, return policy, and any other contact you may have with the company and its employees. If each touch point results in a memorable experience you develop positive feelings about them which builds equity in the brand.

A leading brand of PPE should also bundle intangibles with the tangible product. What do they offer that others do not? What "comes with" the tangible product? We are in the knowledge age. We have said before that information, knowledge and ideas before, during and after the sale should be provided. The primary source of those intangibles is the salesperson. It has been said that the value of a salesperson can account for up to 40% of the buying decision.

Leading brands communicate a clear, compelling and consistent message to define and differentiate their offering. There should never be any doubt in your mind what they believe in, what they stand for and what they do. And what they claim should match your experiences with the brand. They use the full marketing communication mix: catalogs, brochures, flyer's, websites, phone, and email to provide the information you need to help you make a buying decision and support your decision afterward.

Top PPE brands provide training programs and experienced, skilled trainers to help you get the most from your PPE Program. They make sure you get what you pay for and that each employee knows about and how to use the PPE you supply them.

Quality Assurance Programs are another intangible hallmark of the best PPE brands. Every PPE supplier has some degree of in-house quality control program. But only the top brands take it to another level with 3rd party quality assurance like the SEI (Safety Equipment Institute) certification program. More can be learned about the SEI Program at their website www.seinet.org including a listing of SEI Certified brands and products.

Longevity and innovation are also important intangibles. Brands that have been in existence for a long time have survived and prospered for a reason. One PPE brand, the Fibre-Metal brand, has been on the market for 105 years. During that time it has established a brand identity for quality and innovation. Experience and innovation are important. Ask yourself if your PPE supplier leads or follows in producing new products to satisfy the ever changing needs for more and better PPE products.

A PPE suppliers Value Package of tangible and intangible products and services establishes a clear identity for their brand in the marketplace. Your experience with them crystallizes the perceived relative quality of the brand in your mind. The brand name becomes a symbol of that perceived relative quality and is something you can depend on when considering additional PPE purchases.

Over time, no one remembers who had the lowest price but most remember what brands provided the best value package. To manage your risk and get the best return on your investment, only include the top PPE brands in your buying decision choice set.

IS LATERAL IMPACT HEAD PROTECTION A PRODUCT THATS TIME HAS COME?

The ANSI Head Protection Standard has referenced two levels of protective cap impact protection since the early 1990's. Level I requires protection from top (crown) impact and Level II requires protection from top, side, and rear impact. The choice is up to you. As is so often the case, OSHA does not define or even offer clear guidelines for when Level II protection is required.

As a result, very few Level II protective caps are being used in American industry. In Canada, CSA requires lateral impact protection but even there, compliance is not universal. Why wouldn't conscientious safety officials equip their workforce with head protection that extends protection and reduces risk? First, they aren't required to, second, Level II caps are bigger, a little heavier, and more expensive. And the need has not been proven to the satisfaction of many USA safety officials and PPE buying decision makers.

In the early nineties NIOSH and BLS research showed that among workers suffering head injuries, only 9% were struck on the top of the head while 91% were struck in the front, back or sides of the head. They concluded that 90% of head injuries could be eliminated or lessened in severity if head protection could be improved to include lateral impact protection. If that was true, the savings would approach $3.8 billion dollars.

That would seem like a no brainer for requiring lateral impact protection. But because the data included workers who were not wearing any head protection at all, no one could say for sure if their Level I protective cap would have lessened or prevented their injuries from the lateral blows to their heads even though they were not designed nor tested for that degree of protection. Therefore, OSHA made lateral impact protection optional based on need.

But they didn't specify or clarify "need". They issued their standard "analyze your hazards and if you have high impact falling or flying (later modified to "moving") objects you may need lateral impact protection" advisory. Some hazards are obvious, others are not. If a wrench falls from above, is it always going to strike a worker below squarely in the center of the crown of his protective cap? What if he ducks? Or looks up? Or turns his head? No one can say for sure. So one point of view is that all falling or moving objects present lateral impact hazards. And what about swinging objects and thrown objects and exploding objects?

On the other hand, many safety officials take a very pragmatic view and use their empirical data to show that they have no history of lateral impact injuries, therefore their Level I head protection is adequate and appropriate for their worksite. But maybe it is time to rethink head protection from a risk management standpoint. The number of Canadian companies working in the USA on pipeline and other jobs has increased the demand for Level II caps because they must comply with CSA Standards even while working here. As they work side-by-side with their American counterparts, the interest in lateral impact protection is growing.

Most brands of Level II Lateral Impact head protection provide an extra margin of protection over Level I caps. It would be good risk management to use them whether or not you have clearly defined lateral impact hazards. But like everything else, there are trade offs. Most Level II caps have bigger shells, are a little heavier, and require a greater initial investment than Level I caps. One large construction company Safety Official said "if they were cost effective, I would use them". With lost time injuries approaching $50,000 each, if a Level II cap prevented or lessened the severity of just one head injury, it would return the incremental investment many times over.

Yes, the shells are slightly bigger and the designs are different but so were Level I caps when workers transitioned from paper and cloth caps. Most complaints about weight are usually actually about fit. A well designed Level II cap, with a good center of gravity, maximum weight distribution, and multiple adjustments for individual fit and feel will offset any complaints about weight. On the other hand, there are a lot of poorly designed, extremely heavy models on the market that contribute to the perception that all Level II caps are uncomfortable.

Just as with Level I head protection, the design and technology used to provide protection is critical to performance and acceptance. Early on, when lateral protection became an issue, those suppliers who sell on price, simply molded a bigger shell and filled it with foam rubber until it passed the standard. Those brands are not only very heavy, they are so hot, resulting from a lack of air circulation, workers refuse to wear them. But there are alternative designs. The most progressive and technically superior design is the "SUPEREIGHT SENSOR" Fibre-Metal brand from Honeywell Safety Products.

This Level II cap begins with the unique Fibre-Metal brand smooth crown design. Instead of using hot, heavy foam, model SE-2 SENSOR adds a patented attenuator band to the standard Fibre-Metal Eight Point Impact Energy Control System to provide impact protection around the periphery of the cap. The cap is called "SENSOR" because on impact, it actually senses where it was struck and either activates the crown impact energy control system, the attenuator lateral impact energy control system, or both. To manage and control lateral impact, the attenuator band corrugations compress to absorb and dissipate the force of the blow. It is similar to the crumble zones used in many cars today.


Because no foam is required, air circulates freely within the shell and as air passes over the damp headband, it actually provides a cooling effect. The headband can be adjusted multiple ways to provide just the right fit and feel to eliminate most workers complaints.


Whether you consider the foam filled models to minimize the purchase price or invest in the technologically advanced Fibre-Metal brand, Level II protective caps deserve another look and should be in your head protection discussions whether you have clearly defined lateral impact hazards or as a head protection upgrade and risk management tool.