Achieving a balance between comfort and protection can be a daunting task, especially when trying to help keep workers safe.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — You want an innovative coverall design that helps optimize protection from workplace hazards with enhanced comfort and freedom of movement features. Take for instance the employees at The Hinckley Company in Maine, where quality is everything and this is exactly what they wanted.
Workers at The Hinckley Company produce custom yachts, and every detail is of paramount importance. They demand no less from the personal protective equipment (PPE) they use to protect themselves, and the boats they build, while manufacturing these custom vessels to the highest standards.
They want protective suit options that are designed to help companies protect workers in industrial workplaces.
Protective apparel should offer different types of:
- Seams
- Materials
- Fabrics
- Knitted cuffs
These options help enhance the protection offered as well as the comfort, breathability, and movement that our coveralls afford.
“There is a reason why we are asked and required to wear it. It’s to protect ourselves from the hazards of the workplace and to ensure that we go home safe and healthy at the end of the night,” said Matt White, who works at Hinckley.
Protective coveralls should be rigorously tested and certified for both physical and chemical protective properties, and various models meet different requirements. The ‘whole suit tests’ ensure that the complete coverall will meet the requirements of the standards to which the product has been certified.
And while there are no regulations governing protective coveralls in the U.S. yet, at 3M, we hold our products to the CE/European standards for proven effectiveness in protecting against certain industrial hazards. Furthermore, protective coveralls should be made to exacting specifications with quality control processes in place to ensure that product is made consistently to high standards.
Read about important factors to take into consideration regarding coveralls and protection in the following Technical Data Bulletins:
- A Seam is Not Always What it Seems
- The Science of Protection: A Coverall is Not Simply a Piece of Fabric
- The Science of Protection: The Chemistry of Coveralls – Permeation, Penetration, and Repellency
You can also find the specifications of 3M™ Protective Coveralls on the User Instructions supplied with each product, or by contacting a knowledgeable health and safety specialist who can answer your questions and help you select protective apparel that best meets your needs.