Planning, stocking, and selling a safety product line that includes head and face protection is simple enough. Add a hard hat in a few colors; make sure the hard hat meets all standards requirements, and throw in a bracket and faceshield. All bases are covered, right?

With a slightly different approach, a properly constructed head and face protection selection can add measurable value to a distributor's safety product offering and create a come-back customer base.

There is more to head protection than just the white, high-density polyethylene hard hat. A variety of choices in types, designs, materials, colors, suspensions, and accessories are available — all designed for the vast array of industrial work environments.

First and foremost, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires that a hard hat line meet all requirements of the American National Standard for Industrial Head Protection. ANSI Z89.1-1997, which is the current head protection standard. The standard defines two different "types" of head protection. Type I hard hats are the most predominantly used and are designed to protect only the top of the head from impact and penetration. The Type II helmet provides additional protection to the sides and back of the head, as well as to the top. A Type II helmet is ideal for work situations involving the potential for a lateral impact to the wearer, such as work environments where there is the potential for falls, and the worker is using fall protection equipment.

Two basic shell designs are available — cap style and full brim. The "cap" style is the traditional look with the extended brim only on the front. The "full" brim, sometimes referred to as a "safari style" hat, has a full extended brim all the way around the hat and offers more protection from ultraviolet rays, as well as from glare, moisture, and dust.

In making an appropriate hard hat product line selection, consider all the work environments of your customer base. An HDPE cap is well suited for construction environments, but is not suited for environments where the worker will be exposed to high heat. By offering a selection of high heat resistant fiberglass and thermoplastic caps for heat and/or chemical exposure, a distributor ensures the selection will properly outfit foundries, steel mills, chemical plants, and other customers with extreme environments.

Comfort is critical to head protection compliance on the worksite. By offering accessories that enhance comfort, a distributor not only helps improve compliance, but also increases sales and ensures the same branded products will be reordered. Hard hat suspension systems have the greatest impact on fit and comfort. Most workers prefer a replaceable, wicking brow pad, wider suspension straps, and ratchet sizing.

Switching brands many times can mean switching distributors. It's all in the perception of the user. Most users could not tell you the brand of the hard hat they wear; however, they do know the name of their distributor. Having the cheapest line to offer might win you the first sale, but it may not get you a repeat buyer. Take these comfort features into account by offering a range of options, and you will enhance the probability that the same branded products get re-ordered from you.

If your distributorship is selling plain white hard hats, you are selling a commodity item that can be purchased at almost every hardware store, safety supply house, and distributorship across the country. The distributor that takes the time up-front to work with the end-user on a custom-decorated hard hat program will reap the most benefits by gaining a long-term customer.

After the first order of customized hard hats, a customer is much more likely to re-order this product from the same supplier rather than setting up a new custom program elsewhere. Most distributors increase their profit per order by 25 to 50 percent with the addition of a custom logo and/or striping on the hard hat, as these desired enhancements can double the cost of the hard hat to the user. By selling hard hat decoration, your company carries no additional stock but increases the value of its services by up-selling to the customer.

Why is face protection a critical complimentary component of the head protection offering? Face protection products are an essential piece of PPE in many job applications, including grinding, cutting, lab work, and chemical splash. Consider offering a line of appropriate face protection that is designed to work with the hard hats you're selling.

The average useful life of a hard hat is typically three to five years, depending on the work environment and company replacement program. For example, assume the hard hat sells to the customer for $8.00 and the reorder point may not occur for another three to five years. Now consider the scenario if you add a mounting bracket and offer a selection of visors to the customer.

On average, hard hat mounted brackets are replaced every three to four months. Assume a sell price of $7.50 x 4 times/year = 20 brackets every five years. Brackets are useless without a visor to protect the face, and these are replaced on average once every two to three weeks. An average sell price of $4.00/visor x 24 times/year = 120 visors every five years. With this scenario, your distributorship turns what would have been an $8.00 hard hat sale over the life of that hard hat into a $638.00 sale over the same period.

If you want your distributorship to be considered a safety specialist source, take the time to know customer work environments, learn the features and benefits of your head and face protection line, and be sure to select safety products suppliers that can provide you the product mix your customers need.