Don Prince is employed by a multinational Fortune 500 consumer goods manufacturing as the Global Power Systems Owner. Mr. Prince says his company has adopted INDURA® Ultra Soft® as its global corporate FR clothing standard due to its capability, reliability, wearer comfort, and cost competitiveness. Their specification is required and detailed to prevent accidental or other substitution of alternatives without the knowledge, thorough inspection and consent of the corporate electrical safety program owners. A video of the test demonstration will be released by Westex to the market in early 2007, (it’s free) and will also be available on its website, www.westexinc.com.
I have been working with electrical power systems at a multinational Fortune 500 consumer goods manufacturing company for more than 40 years, and have the responsibility of establishing an NFPA 70E Electrical Safety Program at our sites worldwide. Of course, driving culture change is a difficult proposition, especially if the workforce or management doesn’t fully understand electrical hazards and the safeguards that are needed. The NFPA 70E Standard has heightened awareness of the hazard, but much more work needs to be done to educate safety professionals, engineers and the employees that work on or near energized parts and equipment; and one of the key areas is clothing.