Among the issues safety distributors face this year are price pressure, industrial layoffs, consolidation and commoditization. While these issues are not new, they are intensifying each year, especially as competition increases from other distributors looking to get into the market.

Competition for both traditional and new customers is intensifying, as well, because personal protection is becoming a wider market as employers of all kinds understand the need for ergonomic protection for their workers.

Many of the injuries reported in industrial organizations are now the repetitive-stress type that occur in offices. Safety items sold to combat such injuries include solid and gel computer wrist rests, wrist protectors, and back protectors for lifting.

The issue of competition and the complexity of selling solutions will continue to become more critical for distributors who specialize in safety equipment, says Robert Kingman of Safety Source Northeast, a distributor in Massachusetts.

"More and more general-line distributors are able to commoditize products," he says.

Many problems remain unsolved, he adds, when safety is not addressed with an overall plan and a distinct distributor. Personal protection sales, which are more complex and include sales of ergonomic equipment to protect against repetitive stress injuries, demand engineered solutions, he says. There is no room anymore for recommending a "one-size-fits-all" approach to eyewear, respiratory masks, fall lines and harnesses, and protective clothing.

"Without intending the pun, 'one-size-fits-all' clothes and eyeglasses are not acceptable any more as a solution to company compliance with safety regulations or as a philosophy toward that goal," says Kingman. " The day of the personal, knowledgeable, complete safety distributor is coming back."

Overall, more government rules and insurance liability make it wiser for customers to look to a specialist who can review their safety compliance and fill in any holes. Specialists will stay informed about the latest regulations and products for their customers, say Kingman and others.

Richard Harper, president of Safety Marketing Group in Ormond Beach, Fla., says the specialized safety distributor's most important tool is his ability to sell solutions. Distributor members of his organization (which includes manufacturers) don't sell products, he says, they sell overall plans to help keep industrial plants as safe as they can be.

"If you don't see the big picture — that employers need a comprehensive plan to protect employees and themselves — then you can buy commodities like hard hats anywhere. But that's what differentiates us. Safety, such as fall protection, is complex and most often needs an engineered solution," he says.

Complicated respiratory and ergonomic problems are not usually solved by a single source, just as they are not solved in a brief sales call, he says.

Harper's group has determined that many customers, particularly large companies with many plant locations, see safety as an expensive commodity not directly related to their production line.

Harper, however, sees selling safety solutions as adding value to the customer's entire manufacturing process. Insurance issues, like workman's compensation, and government oversight mean that a complete safety plan is essential. Without one, the whole operation is at risk.

Conversely, if a plant runs in the safest possible manner, reducing accidents and stress-related injuries, costs of lost labor and insurance go down.

"Specialized distributors work from the bottom up, solving problems one by one at the floor level, at the source," he says. "[Specialized distributor salespeople] spend a ton of time at smaller and on-the-floor locations." They train, demonstrate products and specify equipment on an individual basis, he notes.

Specialists are thriving in the increasingly complex safety areas of personal protection and fall protection equipment, according to Richard Crannell of Safety Equipment Co. in Tampa, Fla.

In industrial plants, he says, personnel are offered more choices of products such as protective eyewear, where color and style make the piece more attractive and therefore more likely to be worn. When safety equipment is worn correctly, the company has more employees in compliance and everyone is better off, Crannell says.

"If people aren't wearing the proper personal protection, the company doesn't really have a safety program," Crannell says.

Because safety is an area that must be right the first time and cannot be skimped on or ignored, Crannell is seeing a reversal of integrated supply take hold.

"Customers who went that way [integration] are coming back. They are coming to specialized and regionalized distributors, those that can serve better than the biggest MRO distributors can over the Internet or through catalog sales. We send out expertise and face-to-face discussion when we see a client. Our strengths are knowing the process, training and hazard analysis, and expertise in defining a product," he says.

The complex issue of training to solve customers' safety problems is no different, Harper says. The Safety Equipment Distributors Assn.'s QSSP program is "a safety and health technical and regulatory fundamentals course for marketing and sales professionals in the safety equipment industry," according to the course description. Harper says comprehensive training will prepare new salespeople to meet the challenges of a more regulated industry.

Training must play a more important role as the need for employees to comply with safety regulations becomes more critical. Companies will enforce safety rules more stringently because insurance and Occupational Safety & Health Administration rules demand it.

One distributor that is both part of a large international organization and specializes in safety products is Vallen Safety Supply Co. Hagemeyer North America, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Hagemeyer, N.V., bought Vallen in December, 1999. Vallen is now part of Hagemeyer North America along with sister companies Cameron & Barkley and Tristate Electrical and Electronics Supply. Vallen has over 180 branches nationwide.

"Vallen offers a total safety solution. The company is able to sell products, service the products and train the end users on safety products," says Joe Chisolm, vice president, sales and marketing at Vallen's Houston, Texas corporate headquarters. "Vallen Safety provides national coverage ... and has over half a century in industrial safety products and services."

PPE is a growing, diversified market for Vallen, as it is with many other safety distributors like SEC. Product offerings increase every year, Chisolm says, and there are challenges to increasing sales due to consolidation, automated processes and manufacturers moving offshore.

The company plans to use its Total Safety Solution to serve customers in an ever-tightening market, Chisolm says. Their primary target is to grow national accounts, providing an "all-encompassing solution for products, services and training."

Large organizations like Hagemeyer, Chisolm says, can provide the one-stop shopping experience that saves customers time and money.

"Consolidated vendors ... will reduce the burden on [customers'] internal accounting structure. Aggregated spending with a single supplier will enable the customer to take advantage of pricing models and an integrated relationship will allow the supplier to better understand and service the customer," he says.

He adds that his organization is prepared to offer complete safety solutions to customers just as other Hagemeyer companies offer complete mill supply, electrical, construction and integrated supply solutions.

"Vallen has the safety personnel and expertise to become an extension of any company ... and we will leverage our many years' experience in the safety industry," Chisolm said.

Agreeing with others that the 2001 economic outlook leaves a lot to be desired, Chisolm notes that safety must remain a key part of every company's culture. The company will use an e-catalog, stocked products catalog and bi-monthly flyers to attract new customers and keep old ones.