Sperian's safety message is really handy

The messages are indelibly printed on the cuffs of the gloves that are safety wear on BAM Construct sites. They are, therefore, seen by the workers every time they put on or remove their gloves.

"This is, if you like, a form of Trojan messaging," said Frank Garnett, Director at BAM Construct UK, "the workers see the safety messages all the time and, whether they are directly aware of them or not, they register subliminally. We are, therefore, confident that the result will be a further enhancement of the already very high safety standards on our sites."

"This may seem like a very simple idea, and it's a truism that the simplest ideas are often the best," said Stephen Donaghy of Sperian Protection. "However, very few suppliers of protective gloves can translate this idea into practice. Sperian is able to do so because it has its own glove manufacturing plant and can, therefore, offer complete flexibility to meet customer needs."

Prior to full-scale production of gloves with two messages, "Your safety is in your hands" and "Safe behaviour saves lives", Sperian supplied sample quantities to BAM Construct, where they received an enthusiastic reception.

"The simplicity and effectiveness of the idea made an enormous impression," said Frank Garnett, "and the universal opinion is that using gloves to convey a safety message is going to be much more effective than the traditional approaches of using posters that are sometimes ignored, or of holding regular but often uninspiring safety reminder sessions."

In the interests of enhancing safety standards throughout the construction industry, Sperian Protection, with the full agreement and encouragement of BAM Construct UK, is making the new safety-message gloves available to any organisation that would like them.