Technology has taken a prominent place in the safety products business, both in the engineering of products and in the use of computers and the Internet to sell and service customers.

Personal protection products, the fastest growing segment of the industry according to surveys, include more space-age polymers and high-impact materials than ever before. Customers want even tougher and lighter materials developed for use in protective products. They also want more protection built into products like gas and bio-chemical masks, gloves and suits.

Ergonomic concerns spawned by repetitive stress injuries created a niche market several years ago that widens (and becomes more attractive to sales organizations) as time passes. Innovative protection products for stress injuries are now available.

David Levin is president and COO of the safety division of Airgas, Inc. As well as being a leader in industrial gas and welding products, Airgas is the nation's third largest safety products distributor, specializing in personal protection equipment (PPE).

"From head to toe, that's our specialty," Levin said, "and [sales growth] depends on the number of people in the workforce. However, we are able to leverage our gas/welding businesses to sell more safety products. They go hand-in-hand."

Safety has risen to the top of people's minds recently, due to the September terrorist attacks and recovery operations.

"PPE has not been nearly as hard hit [by the economy] as other industrial products. Some heavily focused products — gloves and masks — are doing very well. The stylized enhancements in the last few years of older products are very popular. Fashionable eyewear styles mean people wear them more often, and are in compliance. The National Football League®, racing cars and materials improvements mean more are sold and more are worn longer," Levin said.

Other high-tech products have moved from the laboratory to the distributor's shelves. Multi-gas detection devices run by optical, electrochemical or catalytic sensing systems are popular, according to Draeger-USA Safety Div., which says its gas detection equipment and PPE sales are stronger since the events of Sept. 11.

The company has produced smaller and smaller devices as technology has created tinier electronic components, and portable, dangerous-gas detectors are now available the size of cell phones. Those products, the company said, will help drive a 10-percent increase in safety sales for 2001 over the year before.

In another aspect of the technology explosion, Airgas launched a B2B Web site this fall in an effort to reduce customers' costs, and their own, while providing faster service. Was it the right time to launch?

"We looked at what was happening in the last two years, with B2B online not taking off, and many failures, and didn't think the markets and our customer base were ready. Then, recently, more customers were saying they are not happy with marketplaces and want to use individual sites like AirgasB2B," said Kelly Justice, eBusiness vice president at Airgas.

Justice noted that many customers using the Web will save money because they can research, ask for quotes and check orders more efficiently.

"We realize that the main reason to use a B2B site at this point in time may not be ordering. We want people to order, but it's our intention to improve customer service and customer management of their account as well. Order taking is only one of the uses of the site right now," Justice said.