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Protective Apparel at the Tip of the Pyramid
“The trade-off is you have to prioritize safety,” he explains, “but also get the apparel as lightweight or as flexible as possible to allow workers to be able to perform their job task for a longer and more effectively.”
Another sporting realm that has helped drive protective apparel innovation that aims to strike that balance is motorsports. Mike Chapman, a race car driver, sought a material to insulate heat transfer within an engine. This quest led to the application of Oxidized Polyacrylonitrile (OPAN) fiber, a precursor to carbon fiber. Blending these OPAN fibers with strengthening fibers produces a fabric that undergoes a carbonizing process when exposed to heat, which effectively absorbs the heat.
Hirschi’s company, CarbonX started using the material to create much lighter protective apparel for extreme environments. Jack demonstrates the efficacy of his company’s material by applying a 2000-degree butane torch to a glove woven with CarbonX. The weave is loose, and his skin is visible. The glove absorbs the heat and spreads it across its surface.
Incorporated into outer jackets for environments like steel mills, CarbonX can get its material down to 10 ounces per square yard, which marks a significant weight savings against materials that protect at the same level but at between 19 and 24 ounces a yard.
At the same time, Hirschi acknowledges that innovations come at a cost. Gear that provides protection against multiple hazards in extreme environments and is lighter and easier to wear requires materials that will entail a higher price. But for jobs at the top of that pyramid, those capabilities can feel like a good bargain.
“These are jobs that people have to do,” he emphasizes. “There’s no way around doing them. So, to make workers as safe as possible is the challenge. The best way to do that is to find ways to protect them that make them more comfortable and compliant when they do it. That’s the overall arc of where the innovations need to go.”
This article originally appeared in the October 2023 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.
About the Author
David Kopf is the publisher and executive editor of Occupational Health & Safety magazine.