Dressed to kill

Jan PetersPast President,

Women’s Engineering SocietyImages: www.elcosh.org

Poor PPE

• undermines efforts to protect worker health and safety

• barrier to equality of employment opportunity for women

“The limited availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for women is a critical

workplace health and safety issue.”

Slow progress

2007• Daphnet discussion • Phone survey of major

suppliers– “We know it’s an issue, it’s

not a priority”

2015• Problems persist as do

images• Major stock photo search:

first image of women & PPE

2010 survey• Bad, gloves, poor low tech

fabric, male fit

• Women’s Engineering Society• Women and Manual Trades• Women in Property• Arup

• Volunteer driven

Pan network group

Woman’s Hour

• Voice of women• Outreach• Networking• Celebration

• Is there a real issue with PPE for women?• What type of PPE is most problematic?• What could be improved?• Market research for safety boots

Purpose of the survey

Who responded?

• 550 responses • Only 25% associated

with a women’s network

• Spread of ages• Spread of sectors

Who buys PPE?

Must you wear PPE?

How comfortable is your PPE?

41% Comfortable

45% Uncomfortable

• ‘Shaped for men. Pops open in places. Arms and legs too long’

• ‘Safety shoes in the right size is very difficult‘• ‘Too big, too heavy’• ‘Shoes and vest fit OK but the winter jacket is

huge’• ‘It doesn't tend to fit in the right places!’

A few quotes….

Ever worn ill-fitting PPE?

• ‘Overalls fit OK but getting safety shoes in the right size is very difficult. Either women’s are too narrow (and look awful) or the equivalent men’s are too big and don’t fit properly.’

• ‘Shoes are bought to fit me, lab coat is the right size, sleeves a bit long but not a problem safety specs are prescription and so ordered specially’

• ‘Gloves in particular are too big and make it difficult to handle stuff - also they fall off easily’

Some more quotes…

To what extent does ill-fitting PPE hamper your work?

• ‘Big clothes can be a safety hazard’• ‘Oversized gloves make it difficult to work safely or

accurately’• ‘Boots not fitting correctly caused me to stumble on site’• ‘Jackets too big, sleeves too long….it reaches almost

down to my knees so hard to walk up and down banks’• Found when wearing boiler suits I have had to wear a

belt…body length is generally too long, so the crotch ends up around my knees affecting the way I walk.

Even more quotes…

What style of safety boot?

1918, 1945, 2010, 2015

• Accessing the supply routes• Timing - recession• Small organisations are vulnerable to the scale

of the problem

Lessons learned

• Review PPE standards for gender inclusion• New robust study and data, pan European• Unions, governments, employers and

women’s networks must coalesce on the issue

Policy Agenda

OFFICE@WES.ORG.UKJan Peters