HexArmor Catalogue - Steel

Steel is the most widely used metal on earth– and one of the most difficult and dangerous to produce and handle. While much of today’s steel production is automated, recycling and handling of scrap, maintenance of production lines, and unique steel finishing tasks continually put workers at risk of severe lacerations to hands, arms, and legs. In 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that steel-manufacturing plants averaged 6.3 recordable injuries per 100 employees during that year. 1 Data showed that 25 percent of recordable injuries were lacerations to hands, and 3 percent of recordable injuries were lacerations to arms. Recordable injuries can cost PPE for the Hard-Edged World of

organizations anywhere from $32,000 in both direct and indirect costs (no lost time/workdays) to upwards of $1 million per incident (direct plus indirect costs, including lost days). To put this into perspective, some of the largest steel plants in the world employ more than one thousand people in varying capacities. If we were to use the BLS statistic, that would mean that these large plants experience approximately 18 recordable lacerations to hands and arms per year and pay out over $500,000 in injury costs (direct and indirect). The cost burden

associated with recordable injuries can impact revenues, as lost time and payouts must be reconciled by increasing production volumes to offset cost. The cost per injury issue has caused steel companies to push their safety departments to mitigate hand and arm injury risk with improved procedures and proper equipment. Maximum Protection From Cuts and Punctures At HexArmor ® , we know that the hand is one of the most complex parts of your body—the movement of the tendons, bones, tissues, and nerves allows you to grip and do a wide variety of complex jobs. HexArmor ® designers have worked hand-in-hand with safety experts from the leaders in steel production, processing, and fabrication to engineer gloves and body protection with the capability to deliver the perfect balance of exceptional protection, dexterity, and grip. While competitive work gloves provide some protection against mechanical hazards, you will see in the following pages that there are certain areas of vulnerability in products that use technologies like leather, Kevlar ® , and Dyneema ® . HexArmor ® products with SuperFabric ® take key performance attributes like cut, puncture, abrasion, and impact protection to a higher level. Your workers are responsible for producing one of the most widely used products on the planet– are they armed with the best protective tools?

1 US DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag331.htm Web. Feb. 17, 2012

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