Recently, IEN had the opportunity to conduct a telephone interview with Kimberly-Clark''s Beth Hohl. Here is the transcript of that conversation.
IEN: From your perspective, what are the major safety and health concerns facing industry?
Hohl: From my perspective and from what I''m looking at in industry, it is compliance to the standard operating procedures or the safety protocol that''s been set up -- truly complying: wearing the safety glasses, the hard hats, the correct protective clothing the way it was designed to be worn. I have seen many people wearing protective clothing with the sleeves cut off, or slits in the waist so that they can put something into their pockets, or in the back to allow air to get in and out. They''re uncomfortable, or it''s not designed for what they need. And it''s my opinion that comfort drives compliance, so if your workers are more comfortable, they''re more likely to comply. I don''t think workers are actively saying to management, "I''m not going to comply with this SOP," but I think they''ve figured out ways to cut corners to try to be more comfortable, and in essence, they may be compromising their safety.
IEN: How can this be addressed?
Hohl: Through both design -- cutting and sewing design -- as well as the actual material that the protective clothing is made from.
IEN: What innovations are in store for users of protective products, ergonomic design, safety/security equipment and systems, environmental equipment, training . . . other areas?
Hohl: There are always more opportunities for improving safety. We''ve addressed some, dealing especially with dry particle holdout and protection from fine dust and particles, and protection from some grease and grime. Even getting into more hazardous types of situations we''ve addressed a number of issues with our Microforce materials. This is a patented process that holds out fine, fine particles -- submicron-sized particles -- yet allows the air to go through: air permeability.
A good comparison -- for women this is pretty easy to understand -- is how air can get through to your body in a cotton t-shirt versus a silk shirt. If you''re in the southeast when it''s 95° with 95% relative humidity, if you walk outside in a silk shirt, it''s clinging to you pretty quickly -- not real comfortable. In all honesty, you''re probably not very comfortable in that cotton shirt either -- but you are more comfortable in cotton than you would be in silk. It''s somewhat relative. So we do have a process -- it''s Microforce-treated fabrics in our Kleenguard® apparel -- that makes them very conducive to air flow. There''s such a tortuous path that submicron-sized particles cannot get through to the skin. So you''re keeping protected, yet you''re still assuring a decent level of comfort. And that''s been in the marketplace now for just over a year.
IEN: What role does training play?
Hohl: We''re looking to educate plant managers, industrial hygienists, safety engineers, even purchasing agents -- those folks that are responsible for influencing purchasing decisions -- on "What are you trying to protect yourself from?" What''s the situation: are you swimming in a pool of sulfuric acid or is it an incidental splash that might occur? That has a huge impact on whether you need a level A, B, C, or D garment. So we do have an upcoming class in the AIHce conference where we are looking at basic chemical protection, and we''re teaching what the regulations say, and we''re teaching about the testing that is referenced to confirm what materials or what designs are adequate or, maybe, adequate enough.
IEN: Are there challenges today, such as the anthrax episodes, that we may not have had to deal with in the past?
Hohl: Yes, there are challenges in ways that we haven''t thought of, and I think that''s probably true in every facet of our daily lives, from where we''re getting our drinking water to what we''re doing at work and what the procedures are.
When anthrax was first found, we had a huge volume of calls coming in. One other technical person and I sat down and said, "What products do we have that we know would protect?" Anthrax spores are about one micron wide by 3 or 4 microns long -- they''re little rods, if you will -- so we looked at what materials we had and we said, "There''s a high probability our Kleenguard® SMS will work but to be safe, let''s be sure and take it up one level." We went to microporous film technology and solid film technology and gave our distribution partners and our sellers some knowledge about what might work in situations where they were hearing questions and concerns about anthrax, from the gloves to the masks to the protective clothing. What do you need to make sure that the person will not be harmed?
Then of course in the actual cleanup of the Hart Building, where they were doing a lot of chemical spraying, a whole different level of chemical protection was needed. So we did work hard with our distribution partners and our Kimberly-Clark sellers to educate folks. Any time you have a public health incident like that you step back: What do we have? What do we know about what we have? Of course we had never tested our materials for anthrax but we had enough information and enough good data on particle size and how our materials performed with varying sizes of particles to have a comfort level about our recommendation. It''s a little scary when you''re selling a lot of chemical protective garments for something outside of industry.
IEN: Where are strides being made today?
Hohl: Strides still remain in how to make these garments more comfortable, and strides have been made in the area of microporous film technologies, where a microporous film allows sweat to evaporate from the body. It doesn''t allow a lot of air in, but it is a feeling of being more comfortable, of helping your body cool off faster. So a number of strides are being made in that type of technology.
IEN: Is the web a significant factor for you?
Hohl: Actually, what''s interesting about the website, and others in industry might be seeing this also, is that with industrial hygienists and professional safety people, whose job it is to read the fine lines, we''ve seen a huge impact by having our information out there on the website, available 24/7. We''re looking at WebTrends data and seeing that there are a lot of people looking for data and finding it. As I''ve been out in the marketplace the last 6 or 8 months talking to people, I find that they do a lot of searching on websites for information. Highly educated folks with a lot of responsibilities can hone in on information very quickly. And I think that is being viewed as a very good asset.
How can we start to train and utilize the website differently? We''re in the very rudimentary stages of taking this class that we''re teaching and exploring how to get it accredited and make it available on a very frequent basis. We don''t have those answers yet but we''re working on them. I''m not sure I understand what the final thing should look like, but that''s the goal.
IEN: To what extent can companies integrate safety and security technologies within the industrial enterprise?
Hohl: In my mind, safety has got to be part of the culture. Just as you clock in, you put on your safety shoes -- you just do it. I''ve seen a shift in industry, not necessarily just in the safety industry but in general, where safety is now a huge focus. There''s nowhere you go in Kimberly-Clark that you don''t hear it: #1, do your job safely; #2, make the very highest quality product that is possible. You can see that in floor plans, anywhere you go -- you''re seeing safety. Lost time incidents are very expensive.
IEN: Part of it''s the realization that safety and efficiency and profitability are all tied together -- safety''s not an extra.
Hohl: It''s not above and beyond your 8-hour shift; it''s part of what you''re doing. That''s why most companies have got excellent standard operating procedures; they''ve got the safety protocols set. But your eyes and ears aren''t available 24 hours a day to see everything, and that''s why comfort helps to drive compliance to those protocols.
We have a huge division that works in healthcare. I''m on the industrial side of things, which, quite honestly, isn''t so bad because in my realm, companies should be able to plan for what kind of protective clothing they need. They know they''ve got chemical A and chemical B and if the two come together, there can be a hazardous reaction, and you need to have the right PPE there. But since you know it, there''s no unknown. The unknown comes when you walk into the emergency room, or what was in that rail tank that got derailed and is spilling out? That is truly your emergency response.
(Photos courtesy of Kimberly-Clark Safety Division.)