Accessing suitable safety equipment

It is thought British industry spends in excess of £1 billion1 a year on personal protective equipment (PPE) yet poor selection and misuse means that much of this investment is wasted. As the safety industry's leading trade body, the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) is aware of issues regarding the difficulties in accessing suitable safety equipment and would like to ensure manufacturers and distributors are offering appropriate advice.

The provision of appropriate safety and personal protective equipment (PPE) has increasingly become a top priority however, there is sometimes an issue with selection, especially within smaller organisations where there may be a lack of specific knowledge. The BSIF would like to encourage manufacturers and distributors to engage with everyone at all levels of responsibility to ensure that they can access clear and easy to understand information. They would also like to encourage potential purchasers to seek the correct advice and information before purchasing safety equipment. By working with a Registered Safety Supplier, which can be easily identified through the BSIF scheme shield, purchasers can be assured that they are using a reputable supplier who is committed to issuing genuine and suitable products and offering trustworthy advice.

It is essential for manufacturers and distributors to be aware of the different sales outlets their products are destined for to ensure better point of sale materials are produced alongside easy to understand user material providing clear guidance without commonly used jargon. The BSIF sees it as part of its role to educate its members to ensure that this clear and accurate information is passed to the marketplace through their customers and retailers and ultimately onto the end user.

1 Research from the BSIF
2 Statistic from a listing of small companies involved in the respiratory field, 2009 and further discussions with stakeholder groups