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How Safety Innovation Has Transformed The Global Industry

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Sapna Sapra, COO, Karam IndustriesKARAM is one of the leading manufacturers of Personal Protective Equipment in India. KARAM Industries, Sitarganj spanning over an area of more than 20 acres caters to the Indian market. The vast range of PPE from KARAM is known for its finest quality and performance.

The global industry wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for innovations in safety. It’s fair to say that industry and, innovations in safety work in tandem. When there is an innovation in safety its direct beneficiary is the global industry. For instance in the 1920s the safety helmet was conceptualized and today it protects millions of workers on construction sites. Most prominent construction sites today are safer today than ever before. This is squarely because of innovations in safety.

Safety Innovations Visible Today
The innovativeness of the safety industry is more visible than ever before. For instance, a construction site is one of the most hazardous places to work today. But, this is little reason for concern when workers there are equipped with suitable safety equipment. In addition to wearing safety helmets, workers at a construction site will likely wear safety gloves and protective work wear. Safety helmets protect workers from possible injury from falling objects and from being hurt when they strike hard and blunt surfaces. Safety gloves prevent cuts and bruises on hands while protective workwear ensures workers are visible even in poor light.

Other safety equipment like protective eye wear and hearing protection equipment protects eyes and hearing from harm. The former is needed when working in areas where fine particles made from wood or metal are airborne and could puncture an eye. Hearing protection equipment is essential when workers work surrounded by high decibel noise.

Safety equipment available today isn’t ‘nice to have’ items, they are essential. It’s important to note safety equipment should not only be worn when it is most needed. For instance, in workshops where noise levels are relatively low and where the risk of hazardous airborne particles is also low, workers ideally should still wear safety equipment. This is because over a protracted period of time, less harmful but perpetual hazards can cause harm.

Fall protection equipment and fall protection training are other crucial safety innovations. Workers who work at heights face unique hazards. In the absence of the right fall protection equipment, a single wrong step can be perilous. Fall protection
equipment is crucial because it allows workers to safely work at heights.

It’s important to note that in addition to equipping workers with fall protection equipment employers must also train workers to use fall protection equipment. Training is a crucial component of using fall protection equipment. Workers must be taught to use even seemingly simple personal protective equipment if the equipment is to serve its intended purpose.

In addition to ensuring workers are as safe as possible, the safety industry, or to be more precise, innovations in safety have allowed companies to grow earnings as well


The safety equipment mentioned are essential to modern industry and behind each kind of equipment are numerous innovations that made them possible.

Industries Where Safety Equipment is Used
Safety equipment is used in industries such as oil and gas, construction, telecom, manufacturing, mining, and power to name a few. Each of these industries is vital to the Indian and global economy. Innovations in safety have allowed these industries to flourish.

The construction industry in India employees millions and constructs homes and offices for many millions more. To safely build and maintain highrise towers requires manpower trained to work at heights. To permit workers to work in inaccessible areas at heights safely the safety industry's newest innovation is IRATA training. IRATA trained technicians and supervisors are often able to do in a matter of minutes what using older techniques would take days. Not only are IRATA trained technicians able to complete a job at a height faster than traditional techniques permit, but they are also less expensive to deploy and enjoy a flawless safety record. It is because of IRATAs innovativeness that façade maintenance companies and real estate developers in India can manage properties and complete projects faster than ever before.

Safety equipment's applications in manufacturing are prominent as well. A visit to any well run and well-equipped factory highlights this. Workers on automotive assembly lines always wear safety equipment that allows them to work safely. Workers employed in chemical plants, food processing facilities, oil and gas facilities the telecom industry mining, power and a host of other industries also wear safety equipment. The plain fact is neither of these industries could thrive in the absence of personal protective equipment. One reason, among others, is each industry needs human workers who would be unwilling to work unless their safety was assured. Another reason is workers equipped with personal protective equipment are more productive.

Of course in India, not every construction site, manufacturing facility, chemical plant, or food processing facility has equipped workers with safety equipment but you can be sure when they do their productivity will increase sharply. This is because of workers equipped with the right safety equipment work more efficiently than workers who aren’t equipped with them. So in addition to ensuring workers are as safe as possible, the safety industry, or to be more precise, innovations in safety have allowed companies to grow earnings as well.

Every industry needs human labour and this equation is unlikely to change over the next few decades, if ever. Industries that demand skilled human labour have to ensure workers are safe on the job precisely because attention to worker safety has been responsible for the growth of such industries. Crucially, just as ensuring workers' safety allowed a number of industries to grow and enabled them to create products and services that make our society possible, so too will innovations in safety continue to keep workers safer than ever while increasing the chances that companies using innovative safety equipment will succeed.