By CLARE GOLDSBERRY, associate editor

While protection remains the number one job of all welding safety apparel, comfort and fashion are becoming the differentiators for apparel manufacturers. In other words, you can look "hot" and not be hot while dressed for the job. And while that might not sound important, the ability to have the flexibility while welding is a safety issue, said John Swartz, product manager for Arc Armor and Welding Components & Consumables for Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. (www.millerwelds.com). "Yes, safety apparel has to be functional, but all other industries have made advancements in the look, fit and style, while the welding industry sat still," said Swartz. "Now it's our turn."

To achieve that goal, Miller recently introduced a new safety apparel line under the Arc Armor trademarked brand, that gives more freedom to the welder to move in tight spaces, is more comfortable, light weight and attractive. "If you look at our industry, safety equipment hasn't changed that much in 40 years," said Swartz. "Helmets have probably made the biggest leap, but Proban flame retardant fabric has been the industry standard for ‘greenie' jackets for a long time. We've created a line of products to improve upon what was already out there."

Swartz said that the primary problem with materials treated with flame retardant is that the treatment will eventually wash out. "Most of the companies who produce these types of materials have made advancement in either the flame retardance or the treatment process," he said. "INDURA, Miller's trademarked brand, is 100 percent cotton but the flame retardancy lasts for the life of the fabric. In fact, the fabric will break down before the flame retardant will wash out."

In addition to the fabric, Miller has changed the fit and the cut of their jackets and gloves, as well as adding features that weren't there previously. "The welding industry is moving beyond the cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all idea of safety products, and demanding garments that are safe from a functional standpoint, yet are attractive and fit better," Swartz said.

Miller's Combo jacket gives the protection of leather where it's needed while offering the cool and lightweight benefits of a cloth jacket, combining pigskin leather sleeves and upper body protection with the comfort and flame retardance of INDURA cotton. A "Cloth & Combo" jacket is also lightweight, with an additional pigskin leather bib/apron, to provide coverage across the chest or thighs depending on the welding application. The bib/apron can be removed for light welding applications.

Miller also offers an all-leather jacket made from pigskin. "Cow hide was the industry standard for many years, and pigskin was viewed as a cheap alternative," said Swartz. "What we found was that pigskin has some very attractive attributes, especially in a jacket." Pigskin is typically lighter in weight, and is unique in that the hair follicles for pigskin starts in the fat layer, making it naturally perforated for breathability. Because cow hide leather is usually thick, and the job of welding is a hot process to begin with, a welder's sweat makes the cow hide stiff and brittle.

"Pigskin also has a natural stretch, about 10% over the original cut which allows welders to move easier, particularly in tight spaces where they need to twist their body," Swartz said. "To get better mobility, welders typically go up a size or two, but then they get bad fit. Pigskin allows the jacket to fit snug to the body while giving the stretch welders need."

Helmets – design and price key selling features
One of the first companies to make polymer welding helmets is Sellstrom Manufacturing Co. (www.sellstrom.com). Today, the family-owned company still makes a wide range of the helmet designs they've developed over the years in the USA, something of which the company is proud. Melissa Heard, marketing manager for Sellstrom, says that some of the company's designs have been around for 50 years and people still like them, such as the "bucket" helmet.

The company makes a slim line, lightweight helmet, called the Titan. One key feature is the bib design for under the chin to prevent neck burn. "Some of the helmets made overseas don't accommodate that area," Heard said. The Titan is molded from a Nylon shell that is lightweight and can withstand high heat. The company has been molding its helmets from thermoplastics for more than 30 years. Heard cited an advertising campaign the company did some 35 years ago which shows an elephant standing on the helmet to demonstrate its toughness and durability.

The Titan helmets are decorated with a variety of designs; however, Heard said that the company tries to keep the designs within the bounds of good taste. "It's hard to be edgy and not offend anyone," she said. "We're family owned so we try to be more general with our designs, with some of the more popular ones being the USA theme, a racing theme, which is the most popular one and the Harley biking theme, also very popular."

Price remains the number one factor, with design coming in second, according to most helmet makers. Heard said that some people tell her they've had their Sellstrom helmet for 30 years. New styles that offer good protection, yet are lightweight and have graphics that "pop" and appeal to the personality of the welder, driving new sales.

Many helmets from overseas say they're certified and they are not. We've tested competitors' helmets, inconsistent in thickness, withstand quality is getting wider apart. We get some parts for products from overseas, and quality differs from batch to batch.

In December of 2006, Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. introduced two new auto-dark-ening welding helmets that feature unique designs for a new attitude. The Joker provides a bit of sinister-looking "jester" fun complete with poker chips, cards, dice and an eight ball, available in Miller's Elite series of auto-darkening helmets. The Camouflage is perfect for the avid hunter and features the Hardwoods Brown, High-Definition pattern — the number one selling camouflage pattern in the U.S. The design was made available to Miller through an exclusive license, and is available in both Elite and Xli series.

Miller is one of the pioneers in graphic design for welding helmets, and their two new designs are attracting attention. "The industry is demanding accessories with personality, style and high-functionality," said Tom Sommers, product manager for Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. "These attractive designs are portrayals of the attitudes that have become part of the American Fabric."

Both the Joker and Camouflage Elite series helmets feature the Performance Series Lens technology, including replaceable batteries with solar assist for 3,000 hours on MIG) with no recharging required. The helmets easily handle low-amperage DC Inverter and TIG applications (5 amps and below) and have a reaction time of 1/20,000 of a second.

Servore America (www.betterwelding.com) offers a specialized helmet series (SV3000) for those welders working in hard hat environments, with FlipFront features and auto-darkening filters that adjust between shades 9 to 13. The SV3000 also has a wider protective area, and can be used in places where ordinary welding masks cannot go. The SV4000 Ultra Lighten Speedy is molded from nylon to be light weight yet tough, well-balanced with an highly clear screen, and offers extensive head, neck and face protection.

Gloves
Miller Electric's newest Arc Armor welding globes are designed for MIG, Stick and TIG welding and metalworking, and have ergonomically curved fingers and padded palms for comfort. The TIG glove is made from goatskin to provide needed dexterity, comfort and durability. All of Miller's gloves are sewn with Kevlar for maximum seam strength.

Revco Industries (www.revcoindustries.com) maker of the Black Stallion brand of safety apparel, features a variety of new gloves including goatskin, the new AccuFlex polyurethane (PU) coated palm glove, and AccuFlex N Nitrile solid coated gloves. The company also introduced a new split cowhide welding helmet bib, and a Cape Sleeve and Jumbo Bib set.

Perfect Fit Glove Co. LLC (www.perfectfitlove.com) will launch a mix of new products within a palm-dipped glove family, as it seeks to meet the demands of its market for high-temperature gloves. The company currently produces the ThermoShield line of seamless knit gloves that have terry loops incorporated to increase longevity by reducing snags, allowing materials to "roll off" the hand.

Shoes
The Timberland Company, (www.timberland.com), maker of footwear, apparel and gear for the outdoor industry, announced an exclusive licensing agreement with Block Corporation, a developer and marketer of work wear. Through this collaboration, Timberland PRO, a division of The Timberland Company, has expanded its line with the introduction of the PowerWelt work boot. The waterproof boot features abrasion resistant Ever-Guard leather, protective steel toe caps, and are made to withstand high temperatures up to 346 degrees F.

"When we develop new products at Timberland PRO, we look to bring new innovation to the work boot consumer through technology, and that's just what we've done with the PowerWelt," said Bob McCarthy, Product Manager at Timberland PRO. "Consumers benefit through protection in critical areas, longer wear time, and the ability to use their boots in more extreme conditions."

Welding Fabrics Get Certification Do you know if the welding fabrics you use are certified? That could be a key question with regard to worker safety. Melissa Heard, marketing manager for Sellstrom Manufacturing Co., says that the company tests all of the products in-house that it purchases from outside suppliers "before we put our name on it." When it comes to welding fabrics, flame retardant (FR) fabrics have been around for a long time, but since so many textiles are coming in from overseas makers, companies are experiencing a higher incidence of fires, and consequently, higher monetary losses. "We're getting products – textiles – from overseas that don't meet standards even though the label says the textiles are certified FR," Heard said. Sellstrom is careful to offer only those materials that have received FM Approvals, as the company supplies Fortune 100 companies with protective clothing and helmets. FM Global, a global risk management and consulting firm headquartered in Cranston, RI, helps companies reduce overall cost of risk and protect business assets. Through their FM Approvals division, the company also conducts industrial testing and certification. Industrial and consumer products are tested and given a rating for product safety, and the company has created a standard for FR materials. FM Approvals developed the new standard (FM#4950) for Hot Work Fabrics. "Hot work is one of the three most common causes of fires at FM Globalinsured properties," according to information supplied by the company. "Hot work is any temporary operation involving flames or producing heat and/or sparks." Auburn Manufacturing Inc. (www.auburnmfg.com), a manufacturer of high-performance textiles for extreme temperature protection, is aware of the need to manufacture to the new standard. Kathie Leonard, CEO of Auburn, said that 17 of the companies fabrics have been tested and approved under the FM #4950 standard, including 12 fabrics rated for curtains, four rated for a pad and one for a blanket. "What drove the development of this standard is the fact that FM Global's risk management business had investigated a lot of industrial accidents and found that hot works safety standards were lax and unclear," said Leonard. "There was no standard for safety fabrics except when they talk about covering areas used in hot work. They only mention covering the with a heat resistant tarpaulin, but offer no specifications defining what this actually means." Auburn Manufacturing's business was built on manufacturing high-temperature fabrics to replace asbestos. While that was a good endeavor, the hot work industry used whatever type of "tarpaulin" they could find, and with no standard in place to define what that should be, "it was a race to the bottom," Leonard explained. Typically, a "covering" meant materials used vertically or horizontally to keep sparks from straying outside a designated 35-ft. area. Some companies used cotton or even plastic to protect welding areas, but found that sparks could burn through such materials and cause a fire. FM Approvals established a rating system for fabric that included ratings for curtains, blankets or pads. Under the standard, a curtain is vertically hung fabric, a blanket is for moderate horizontal use, and a pad is for heavy horizontal use. "When testing our fabrics, FM Approvals replicated real world conditions, including fire and thermal tests, then replicate having it exposed outside for 1000 hours, then retested for fire and thermal resistance, gauging the fabric's resistance to "charring embrittlement," said Leonard. "If a fabric is rated as curtain, it can only be used for curtain, and the same with the blanket and pad ratings," she said. "Armed with that information, we can go out and educate end-users to the use our fabrics for the appropriate application. We also mark every bolt of fabric and stencil the rating on the fabric so it will be used properly. It's still an ongoing educational process for us." While Auburn Manufacturing also makes fabrics used in safety garments, the FM Approval #4950 is specific to hot works curtains, blankets and pads, and doesn't involve clothing. "I hope to see an expansion of this standard for welding apparel, to cover the people who are welding," Leonard said. "We're getting asked more about that as people become aware of the new standard." The technology is there and Leonard believes that as textile manufacturers, "we can get there with textiles that will eventually replace leathers, and develop fabrics that are smarter," she said. "We're already working with composite fabrics and fabrics with new coatings that could possibly replace some of these standard products as we go forward."