Countries covered: United Kingdom
The apparent UK market for protective clothing and equipment is estimated by Key Note to have been worth £783m at manufacturers' selling prices (msp) in 2008, a 1.1% increase on 2007. Between 2004 and 2008, the value of the sector increased by around 1.6%.
Workwear and protective clothing is the largest sector of the market. The market also includes: head, face, eye and hearing protection; medical and industrial gloves; industrial footwear; respiratory protection and breathing apparatus; and other protective equipment, such as fall-arrest equipment
and lifejackets. Much of this market comes under the heading of personal protective equipment (PPE), as defined by EU regulations.
As with most other sectors of UK industry, the recession is affecting the market for protective clothing and equipment. Several leading manufacturers and suppliers of workwear and other types of protective clothing and equipment have reported difficult trading conditions in 2009, and a number have introduced cost-cutting measures to combat the situation. The suppliers of protective clothing and equipment to recession-affected sectors such as housebuilding and vehicle manufacturing have been particularly affected
by the downturn, whereas demand from other sectors, including the public sector, is reported to have held up better.
The number of people who were fatally injured at work in Great Britain
in the year ending 1st April 2009 fell to a record low according to provisional data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). However, although the figures are encouraging, there is some concern that the number and proportion of workers killed has declined, in part, because of the recession.
It is feared that, when trading conditions start to improve again, the number of fatalities at work will also start to move higher. The new figures do show, however, that compared with the latest data available for the four other leading industrial nations in Europe — Germany, France, Spain and Italy — Great Britain has had the lowest rate of fatal injuries at work over the
last 5 years.
The protective clothing and equipment market is expected to encounter weakening demand in 2009. Rising unemployment across UK industry — including job losses in the manufacturing and construction sectors — will affect demand for protective clothing and equipment to those markets, although sales to other industries, such as healthcare, may be less affected.
A recovery in demand for protective clothing and equipment in 2010 is currently envisaged, although much will depend on the general improvement in the economy and its impact on those sectors that are major buyers of protective clothing and equipment.
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