PPE PROVIDES VITAL PROTECTION

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is the last resort for ensuring the safety of employees. But while supply shortages are easing, there are other challenges with which buyers must get to grips to ensure it is fit for purpose.

The biggest factor for organisations, according to the 2024 Health & Safety Report, produced by RS in association with Health and Safety Magazine, is finding the correct product for the application. This was put forward by 46 per cent of respondents and has fallen from 49 per cent the year before, perhaps due to an easing of supply shortages resulting from the pandemic. Availability is also less of an issue now, with just seven per cent highlighting this compared to 13 per cent the previous year.

One emerging challenge is that of range, acknowledged by 12 per cent of professionals. Ryan Plummer, Senior Director at RS Safety Solutions, says over the last three years his organisation has increased the number of line items from 12,000 to 40,000. “That’s improved the proposition to the customer but can make the navigation more challenging,” he says. “How you interact with the customer is key, because if you have that deeper understanding of the application that the customer is protecting the user against, then you can narrow down that broader range into specific items. Equally, our website functionality also allows suitable filtering to achieve this goal.”

It's important that buyers understand the different available items, he adds. “In true production facilities, we will provide a very different type of hand protection to that which we provide to the automotive space,” he says. “We have strong relationships with suppliers that we work with, in conjunction with the end-user, to ensure that the correct PPE is sourced.”

Confronting concerns

There are challenges when it comes to buying PPE, however, and finding suppliers that have the right stock and services is seen as the biggest. And it’s growing; 31 per cent of respondents now say this is an issue compared to 23 per cent the year before. Other issues include sourcing quality and trustworthy parts (28%, up from 26%) and keeping up to date with new products and technology (23%, as it was the previous year).

Part of the concern around finding suitable products stems from the threat of counterfeit items, which was highlighted during the pandemic. More than a third (37%) believe this is an issue, while others may be blissfully unaware of the risks of buying items that are not what they claim to be.

“If your purchasing team is buying a substandard product, as a safety professional, I would highlight that to senior management and say that it’s not acceptable.”

John Barnacle-Bowd, Vice President for Environment, Health & Safety at RS Group

Sustainable thinking

A growing issue when purchasing PPE is that of sustainability, and 78 per cent of respondents say they would be prepared to pay more for a sustainable item. But there is a disconnect here; 11 per cent see product cost as the most important factor when choosing PPE (down from 14% the previous year) and, for those who say they would not pay more, cost and budget are the dominant reasons.

This can be seen in some of the comments left in the survey that informed the report. Some people acknowledged the issue, saying “cost is the overriding factor in most purchasing decisions” or “our company favours cheaper price over sustainability”. Others argued there are better ways for their business to reduce their impact on the environment, or that their priority was to buy the best item rather than focus on either cost or sustainability.

There is a clear need here for more awareness of the total cost when it comes to PPE, including the cost to society of buying products that aren’t fit for purpose. It’s a point made by Dr Karen McDonnell, Occupational Health and Safety Policy Adviser at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). “If a more sustainable product means the PPE is longer-lasting, then there also needs to be a greater emphasis on the condition of the PPE over time,” she says. “This means the use of it, the fit, and how it is maintained and stored to ensure it remains fit for purpose.”

Barnacle-Bowd agrees there’s a need for people to look beyond the initial price, at least while sustainable products tend to remain more expensive. “Organisations go for the traditional piece and won’t necessarily look at the longevity of the sustainable product and how that can save money in the whole supply chain,” he says. “Will it last longer? Is it made of a better material? It’s all that lifecycle analysis for that product that we need to take into consideration, and I don’t think we’re there yet. In time, when the market is flooded with sustainable products, prices will start coming down but we’re a way off that yet.”

Those who are looking to purchase more sustainable items need to exercise the same care and attention they would for any other item, to check items are what they say they are. “Manufacturers need to be doing more to educate both distributors and end-users because it can be a minefield,” says Plummer. RS’s Better World product offering is designed to help with this, he adds, providing sustainable options that have been verified by an independent body.

Buyers themselves are also starting to push the sustainability agenda, he adds. “We have noticed that when we receive tenders from end-users, whether that’s to retain existing business or for new opportunities, there is now a growing weight on that sustainability piece,” he says. “We often have to provide information on sustainable alternatives to what they may have previously been buying. That’s a growing trend.”