Negotiating safety regulations

Small safety distributors specialize in helping customers understand and comply with ever-increasing safety regulations

By -- Industrial Distribution, 7/1/2000

The primary line of defense for distributors specializing in safety equipment-against the constant threat of losing market share to general line and other distributors adding safety equipment to their lines-is to delve deeply into service. In the case of safety equipment suppliers, providing valuable service often translates into helping customers negotiate the murky waters of regulatory compliance.

Safety distributors are juggling a wide range of issues including fall protection, respiratory, ergonomics and confined space, both in anticipation of pending regulations and in response to existing and new regulations. Industrial Distribution spoke with three safety equipment specialists about how they work to simultaneously serve their customers and stay on top of the issues, as well as what their top customer concerns are. Jendco Safety Supply, On Hand Safety Supplies, and Puget Safety Equipment Co., all offer their customers a level of expertise in safety that a general line distributor would be hard-pressed to match.

On-site assistance at Jendco

When Beth Jarvis, president and owner of Jendco Safety Supply Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, started her business, she had distribution sales experience, but in another product line. Since then, she's built up an expertise in safety that allows her to lead Jendco's service efforts, which include making product recommendations for customer-specific applications, providing training and respiratory equipment fit testing, and offering a specialization in instrumentation and fall protection equipment.

"I've obtained my background [in safety] by talking with people, working with EPA and OSHA reps, and reading magazines and information, and belonging to [Safety Equipment Distributors Assn.]," Jarvis says.

In addition, Jarvis completed the Qualified Safety Sales Professional training program offered by SEDA, The Safety Equipment Assn. and the Safety Equipment Manufacturers' Agents Assn.

"Now I can go into a plant and show my customers the regulations and point out what they may be missing. Based on current regulations, everyone needs some form of safety product in their facility," Jarvis says. "We're only in the position to make recommendations, but it's really up to the contractor or employer. If you're an employer working with hazardous material, you'd better be up on what the regulations say."

Jarvis says smaller manufacturers and contractors often need the most assistance because they don't have the resources to devote to addressing safety issues.

"I wouldn't over estimate the awareness of the manufacturing industry about safety issues," Jarvis says. "I'm really surprised at some of the places I go into-places that don't have basic requirements like eyewash stations or workers wearing safety glasses. It's those types of things that are hard to enforce."

In addition to distributing product and providing service to customers in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, Jarvis also operates a side business fabricating disposable decontamination showers. The systems are sold to customers like fire departments and asbestos removal companies.

Accessibility is key at On Hand Safety

Todd Funk, vice president and general manager of On Hand Safety Supplies in Bloomington, Ill., sits on the safety committees of two of On Hand's major customers, Mitsubishi and Caterpillar. By participating in those committees, Funk contributes to discussions on topics such as new product development and cost savings methods, and gains access to both the company and the workers' unions, which are both typically represented. He can then better understand how to serve the needs of both groups.

Those needs are wide-ranging, Funk says.

"One of the things we do is perform on-site consulting where we have someone on staff discuss fall protection issues, environmental or hazardous materials issues. We get involved in this like personal protection equipment analysis," Funk says. "For example, a customer may come to us and say they're changing chemicals and want to know what type of glove they need now."

On Hand Safety has expanded its consulting business to include services like performing OSHA audits, fork truck training and checking fire extinguishers.

"The OSHA audit is especially important for a smaller company. It's a big advantage for them because they don't have the staff. So we go in and look for the things OSHA would look for if they would come in. Then we make recommendations for things like machine guarding or other things we might see," Funk says.

On Hand Safety also performs some routine service functions for its customers, like maintaining eyewash stations at Mitsubishi.

"We're responsible for their eyewash stations and we've basically set up a log of all the stations in their facilities. The mobile, contained units have to be changed out in some cases every six months, and we keep track and document that. That's one of the things we do for them and they don't have to worry about unless a station is used and needs to be serviced right away," Funk says. "The reason that came about is that their expertise is building cars, and our expertise is safety. This lets them concentrate on their area of expertise."

Ergonomics and fall protection are the regulation issues that are capturing the most attention from On Hand Safety's customers, Funk says.

Bridging the gap at Puget Safety

For customers of Puget Safety Equipment Co. in Bellingham, Wash., respiratory, lockout/tagout and biohazard issues to the list of concerns, says Becky Eastwood, president.

Puget Safety has done a lot of recent work with customers making sure their respiratory equipment programs are upgraded, fit testing equipment and educating workers in the field.

Eastwood says fall protection and confined space entry issues are also top concerns for Puget Safety's customers.

"We're doing a lot of training with fall protection and confined space entry and helping customers understand the limits of what they can do with the equipment," Eastwood says. "Roofers are particularly hard to get through to on how important that is. But even though they hate wearing the gear, we've had some really good feedback from people who have taken a slip."

Keeping on top of the latest regulatory compliance issues demands a lot of reading and requires Puget Safety to bridge the gap between distribution, manufacturing and regulatory agencies like OSHA. To do that, Puget Safety works closely with both manufacturers and local agency representatives.

"Our customers rely on us for that. If we don't know the answer to a question, we'll scramble and find out quickly," Eastwood says.

"We have a good relationship with our local OSHA people-they've given us sources of people to help and it's also nice that we can call them, find out answers, help our customer and then have OSHA do the walk through," Eastwood says. "We'll often do the initial set-up before they're inspected. Of course, we've gotten a lot of panic calls after a customer has been cited as well."

Eastwood says contractors and manufacturers are often cited for a lot of simple things that they are aware of, but have put off taking care of, such as posting no smoking signs at entrances.

Despite the detailed level of service that small distributors like Puget Safety, On Hand Safety and Jendco Safety provide, the small independents are still challenged to prove their worth in a market with dropping margins, lots of competitive pressure and customers who increasingly want to limit their number of suppliers.

Jarvis says integrated supply is a constant challenge, but she believes that small specialty distributors have an important role to play.

"As a small distributor, [integrated supply] is a tough call. You don't want to be everything to a customer. Why would a plant want that? Everyone who has a specialty has something to bring to the table," Jarvis says. "And especially with safety, there are a lot of technical issues that you need to be trained on. Where does your expertise come from if you are trained to sell tools? I'm not trying to sell tools, but many tool distributors think they can sell safety."

Safety regulation issues to watch