Joe Smith

According to Jackie Barker, vice president of sales for ERB Safety, a division of Woodstock, Georgia-based ERB Industries, “We sell to a couple of school-supplies catalogers, so maybe … some of our safety glasses might be used in the science lab for protection.” Just this past November, the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) issued a revision to its Worker Visibility Law that makes wearing high-visibility apparel mandatory for workers on federal-aid highways. Equipped with the proper technology (fire-retardancy, reflective stripes, etc.), vests, jackets, gloves and the like are effective promotions for those who work outdoors or are exposed to elemental hazards on the job. [...] though it might seem self-evident, she gets asked “Is it a real hard hat?” quite often. Since there are price differences as well as occupational risks associated with each, asking the right questions can be the difference between getting the sale and not (not to mention keeping end-users well protected).